


Gaylor Swift: An Introduction

by Anonymous



Category: Taylor Swift (Musician)
Genre: Bisexual Taylor Swift, Closeted, F/F, Lesbian Taylor Swift, Meta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-06-04 20:19:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15154880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: An introduction to the Gaylor Swift theory, the reasoning behind it, and the possible evidence that has been collected over the years.





	1. Introduction and Theories

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1: Introduction and Important Terms  
> Chapter 2: Lyrics and Themes: Queering Taylor's Discography  
> Chapter 3: The Road to Stardom; Emily Poe  
> Chapter 4: America's Good Girl; Dianna Agron  
> Chapter 5: On Top of the World; Karlie Kloss  
> Chapter 6: Twenty-Gay-Teen; The _reputation_ Era  
>  Chapter 7: Assorted Information; Other Reputed Romantic Interests
> 
>  
> 
> Most sources will be directly linked to, where possible. Those not available for links will be cited at the end of each chapter.

# Introduction

 

I first came across the "Gaylor Swift" theory in early 2018. At first, it seemed strange - a female artist famous or infamous for her relationships with men, and famous as well for her defence of her right to date as she wished? But I was intrigued enough to read more, and whether or not the theory is correct, it is more complicated, more subtle, and more believable than the first knee-jerk response.

Theories of secret relationships are nothing new - they've been around for as long as there have been celebrities. And rumours and theories about secret gay and lesbian relationships have been around since at least the 1920s - it was said that Rudolph Valentino and Ramon Navarro were lovers, although Navarro denied that they had even met more than a couple of times. _Hollywood Babylon_ , by Kenneth Agner, was published in 1959 and kicked the rumours up to another notch (the story about Valentino sending Navarro a dildo, however, has been shown to be entirely false). And in the modern day, rumours that celebrities are queer continue to be widespread - despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that increasing numbers of queer people are coming out.

Some of the most famous rumoured secret relationships of the present day include "Larry Stylinson" (Louis Tomlinson and Harry Stylinson of One Direction) and "J2" (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki of Supernatural). But it isn't just men who attract the rumours, and the Gaylor Swift theory - that Taylor Swift is queer, whether that means exclusively lesbian or not - proves if nothing else that people are still fascinated by the romantic lives of celebrities.

Information about the theory can be found extensively on tumblr and twitter, but as AO3 is a permanent Archive with non-breaking links I felt that it might be good to have an outline of the theory here, from basics to details, for those who wish to understand what people mean when they talk about Gaylor.

 

 

 

# The "Gaylor Swift" Theory: The Basics

 

"Gaylor Swift" theories and meta are not a single, cohesive narrative. But the core of them is that **Taylor Swift is not heterosexual**. Some fans think that she is exclusively lesbian, others than she is bisexual or would prefer not to be labelled, but there is an agreement that she has at least some attraction to women. Many believe that she has dated women in the past, and that at least some of her songs are about women. The most common names raised in such theories are Emily Poe, Dianna Agron, and Karlie Kloss.

As a result of this, it is theorised that her management and PR, either with or without Taylor's consent and support, have prevented her from expressing her non-heterosexual desires, and **"straight-washed" her narrative**. 

Commonly, these theories also posit that **some or all of her male love interests over the years have been fake** \- for publicity, or in order to portray a more heterosexual image. The most commonly cited relationship for this is "Hiddleswift" (Tom Hiddleston), which even mainstream media called out as cynically performative.

Many supporters of the Gaylor Swift theories believe that  **there are clues and indications** to be found in Taylor's work which indicate this side of Taylor's sexuality. Some also feel that as time has gone on, and with Taylor more successful than ever, these clues have become increasingly deliberate.

In contrast to some sites which treat a potentially-queer Taylor derisively (blind items gossip sites are very bad for this), Gaylor Swift fans  **support and understand her choices**. Even if they wish that she had chosen other actions at certain times, Gaylor Swift theorists understand that Taylor's choices have been forced by a homophobic music industry and general public, and her right for her music to be heard clashing with the potential fallout of coming out as non-heterosexual.

Some theorists feel that a coming-out of some sort within the next few years is very likely, given the age and level of success and industry power which Taylor has now reached.

 

 

 

# Closets, Bearding and "Promances"

 

Almost everyone who is queer has experienced the feeling of being in the closet. Whether it's something as short-term as playing the pronoun game for one afternoon with distant family, or it's the long-term hiding of self, partners and identity which grinds away at the soul, an LGBTQIA+ identity sooner or later means hiding part of yourself. Being in the closet is a psychological strain, othering and isolating (Berger 2008); it exposes people to microaggressions and casual bigotry; and it has been understood since at least 1990 that closeting and "self-concealment" have detrimental effects on mental health (Larson & Chastain 1990). Nowadays, even more [mainstream ](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/02/the-closet-is-a-terrible-place)[media](https://www.bustle.com/articles/167132-how-being-in-the-closet-affected-my-mental-health) acknowledges the difficulties of closeting (Strudwick 2014, Zane 2016).

So why do people stay in the closet? Sometimes it's a matter of safety - homosexuality is still illegal in 74 countries. But it isn't isolated to these extreme cases; Stonewall reports that [one in five LGBT Britons have experienced a hate crime or incident in the last twelve months](https://www.stonewall.org.uk/comeoutforLGBT/lgbt-in-britain/hate-crime) while the Center for American Progress reported that [one in four LGBT people reported experiencing discrimination in 2016](https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbt/news/2017/05/02/429529/widespread-discrimination-continues-shape-lgbt-peoples-lives-subtle-significant-ways). [Over half of LGBT Americans are still closeted in the workplace](http://www.hrc.org/climate). Closeting can be a "strategic appropriation of power" (Fuller  _et al._ 2009) - a way to take back power, privilege and prestige that it would not be possible to gain as an openly queer person.

Celebrities face even more pressure than members of the general public. It is a double jeopardy: not only are they subject to the whims of casting directors, of managers, of bosses, but they are also bound to the bigotries of the general public who watch their films, listen to their music, or buy their products. The two can even combine: the 'public' is an easy excuse for one homophobic manager to pass over a queer actor or singer, or to demand that they stay in the closet. Marketing suffers from heterosexism: the 'general public' is assumed to be young, cisgendered, white, and heterosexual, even when it is statistically likely that such a demographic is not going to be a majority! Female-specific marketing has been around for well over a hundred years - skimming Victorian-era adverts is enough to show that - but the "Pink Dollar" or "Pink Pound" of the LGBT community has only been acknowledged since the 1990s, and only in the 2010s has Britain started to specifically reference and court the "brown pound" of non-white consumers.

So where does this leave queer celebrities? When Ellen DeGeneres - and her character Ellen Morgan - came out in April 1997, the studio received bomb threats and Ellen herself received death threats. Rupert Everett has stated in interviews that he feels that being openly gay has sidelined him to supporting roles, to 'gay best friends', and out of the main roles and the spotlight. More and more queer celebrities are coming out, with seemingly less threat to their careers, but it remains to be seen if America - and the world - will be as accepting as can be hoped.

 

 

**Country Music**

Chely Wright came out in 2010, at the age of 39. She was one of the first country music stars to do so. [Her sales halved and she received death threats](http://tasteofcountry.com/chely-wright-coming-out-career/) \- but for the first time in her life, she was able to live openly with the woman she loved, no longer pursuing heterosexual relationships she had no real interest in, no longer lying by omission or in words.

2010 was the year of Taylor Swift's third album. Her singles were reliably breaking into the Top Ten, she was dabbling in acting, and she was preparing for the 2011  _Speak Now_ tour. While she might have been a rising star, she wasn't the megastar which she has since become. And in chapter two, we'll be looking at the early years of the Gaylor Swift theory, which suggests that Taylor already had good reason to know that homophobia could ruin careers.

Perhaps Taylor's 2012 song,  _Lucky One_ , had the most chilling warning of all.  

 

 

> _And they tell you that you’re lucky_  
>  _But you’re so confused,_  
>  _'Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used_  
>  **_And all the young things line up to take your place_ **

Luckily, country music is changing. [Pride](https://www.pride.com/music/2018/4/23/18-lgbt-friendly-country-artists-you-should-know-about) has highlighted LGBT-friendly artists - a handful from the 80s and 90s, and an increasing number today including several who have now come out. Taylor Swift even ends their list, with her country roots and her increasingly forceful pro-equality stance. [Advocate](https://www.advocate.com/music/2018/5/25/best-queer-country-artists-amythyst-kiah-trixie-mattel) has gone one step further, and highlighted artists who  _are_ LGBT. But the change is also more structural: in March 2018, the Country Music Association Foundation [removed Mike Huckabee from their board](https://www.advocate.com/politicians/2018/3/01/county-music-organization-boots-homophobe-mike-huckabee-board-directors).

The real developments, though, have only come in the last few years - and there's still plenty of states in the US that don't offer full protection, let alone countries in the world. Taylor Swift signed on to Big Machine Records in 2005, when she was just fifteen years old. 

 

 

**Bearding**

"Bearding" is a pretty old term, and can seem opaque if you haven't come across it before. It's basically a fake relationship, with the specific intention of making at least one half of the relationship look heterosexual to the public. The term dates back to about the 1950s or 1960s, but the practice is far older, dating back to at least the 1920s and the rise of Hollywood. The term "beard" originally applied to a woman hiding a man's sexuality, but nowadays it is more gender-neutral. The equivalent terms "handbag", "frock" and "merkin" do occasionally pop up, though, especially in older writing.

"Morality clauses" have existed in Hollywood since the 1920s. 1921, to be precise, when Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was accused of rape and murder (and later acquitted). The 1921 Universal Studios clause read:

 

> _"The actor (actress) agrees to conduct himself (herself) with due regard to public conventions and morals and agrees that he (she) will not do or commit anything tending to degrade him (her) in society or bring him (her) into public hatred, contempt, scorn or ridicule, or tending to shock, insult or offend the community or outrage public morals or decency, or tending to the prejudice of the Universal Film Manufacturing Company or the motion picture industry. In the event that the actor (actress) violates any term or provision of this paragraph, then the Universal Film Manufacturing Company has the right to cancel and annul this contract by giving five (5) days' notice to the actor (actress) of its intention to do so."_

Remember how I said that rumours like those about Navarro and Valentino started to develop in the 1920s? The decade saw the growth of Hollywood, the development of journalism, and the real birth of celebrity gossip. For the first time, there were people who were widely known beyond royalty and nobility, and for the first time there was a world of journalists ready to spread false rumours and true stories.

In 1930, the Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hays Code, strictly limited what could and could not appear in movies - before this, there had been no limits, no rules. It was named after William Harrison Hays Sr., first chairman of the MPDD and easily the most powerful man in Hollywood, who had until 1921 been the chair if the US Republican National Committee and the US Postmaster General. Hays's word was once law in Hollywood, and it was only into the 1960s and 1970s that the rules about what could and could not be portrayed in film relaxed, largely due to market pressure from foreign films which could portray nudity, crime, swearing, adultery, mixed-race relationships, or any of the many other themes banned by Hays.

Homosexuality was, of course, among the forbidden themes for films. But Hays - and those who later held his position - also targeted actors themselves. The "Doom Book" was a list of one hundred and seventeen actors and actresses whose lifestyles were not considered acceptable - be it drugs, partying, being queer, or associating with other races, crossing socially accepted lines could land you out of a job.

Bearding took off during the same era, as actors and actresses found themselves hiding lifestyles which Hays and other powerful figures deemed "unacceptable". [William Haines was fired by MGM](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/you_must_remember_this/2015/10/the_story_of_william_haines_the_silent_film_star_and_gay_icon.html?via=gdpr-consent) in 1933 for refusing to leave his male partner and date or marry a woman. But many queer actors and actresses either did not have the choice to leave, or made the choice to stay, to closet themselves, and to date members of the opposite sex. 

The term "bearding" was not around in the 1930s; the term "lavender dating" was more likely to appear. And this term is still echoed in the next step: lavender marriage. A lavender marriage is one in which one or both partners are queer, but the marriage gives enough of an appearance of heteronormativity to ward off any casual glances. Famous lavender marriages include those of [Rock Hudson and Phyllis Gates](https://www.thehairpin.com/2011/08/scandals-of-classic-hollywood-rock-hudson-hollywoods-most-eligible-bachelor/), [Laurence Olivier and Jill Esmond](http://fq.ucpress.edu/content/46/2/61.4), and all three of Cary Grant's marriages while he was with his long-term lover Randolph Scott.

But is modern bearding still an issue? Well, [AfterEllen](http://www.afterellen.com/general-news/532837-bearding-still-thing-hollywood) has some pretty modern examples. Chely Wright, mentioned above, was publicly believed to be in a relationship with Brad Paisley for years, which she was living with her female partner (now wife). [Industry insiders ](http://gdelgiproducer.tumblr.com/post/92539985801/hollywoods-shameful-ongoing-history-beards)point to yes. In truth, it's likely that as long as there's homophobia, there will be bearding.

 

 

**Promances**

While there might be some contention about how widespread bearding still is, "promances" or "fauxmances" are definitely still around. The term applies to celebrities who date for publicity, either for themselves or for projects on which they are working.

Truth be told, it's hard to discuss promances, or research them, without coming across discussion of Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston. "Hiddleswift", as the relationship was also known, was extremely highly publicised and rumoured even at the time to be part of Hiddleston's push for the role of James Bond. Even [Vice](https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/gqy9dy/taylor-swift-tom-hiddleston-pr-relationships-promances) cites it as a prominent promance example. Kristen Stewart [has also spoken](https://heatworld.com/celebrity/news/kristen-stewart-says-relationship-robert-pattinson-product/) about how her relationship with Robert Pattinson may have started off as something real, but the studio pushed it for publicity until "it wasn't real life anymore".

Relatively few individuals have come forward about promances, but those who have indicate that the practice is widespread. Video blogger Shane Dawson [has spoken about his experiences](https://twitter.com/TotallyLost4You/status/1019682462321004544), while [Colton Haynes](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/colton-haynes-virginity-dating-women_us_59400040e4b02402687cf6c6) discussed his arranged "dates" and rumoured romances with Andy Cohen on radio. [Jessica Lowndes](https://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/2016032930576/jessica-lowndes-jon-lovitz-engagement/) teased her followers for a week with posts about a secret relationship before revealing that it was all designed to spark interest in, and create publicity for, the song she was about to release. The 2017 TV series "[The Arrangement](https://www.eonline.com/shows/the_arrangement)" starts off with a woman offered $10 million to be the publicity-friendly bride of a powerful actor, and for all that it turns sharply into a cult-takedown thriller, the fake relationship stands out in the story and has made its way into public consciousness.

 

 

 

# Taylor and Gaylor: How It All Fits

 

2004\. A talented young singer heads to Nashville, Tennessee, to turn her skill and determination into something more. At just fourteen, she is already writing and producing original songs, and she signs on to a fledgling record company - singer and company both trying to break out at the same time.

[Tennessee ](http://www.equaldex.com/region/united-states/tennessee)in 2004 does not recognise same sex marriages or equivalent unions, has no laws preventing discrimination for sexuality, and it has been less than two years since the sodomy laws were struck down. (To this day, the local [Human Rights Commission Tennessee branch](https://www.hrc.org/local-issues/tennessee) continue to work to improve LGBT+ rights and lives.) Although it would be unfair to say that most of the residents of Tennessee are homophobic, [rather too many of their lawmakers](https://www.advocate.com/politics/2016/5/20/brief-history-tennessee-homophobia#slide-1) have been or tried to be.

Music is a cutthroat business. One disappointing song, one bad newspaper headline, and it can all be taken away. If the singer wants to make it big, she has to play the media game.

For a young, queer singer, the closet might seem like the safest place.

Heterosexual romances mean good PR. A lesbian one could mean scandal. Her image has been created by her PR company: America's sweetheart, a good girl in pretty dresses with perfect make-up and high heels. She packages romance into catchy tunes, adolescent angst and fear into lyrical refrains. Her target audience is teenage girls, but its the parents whose good side she needs to stay on.

California Proposition 8 passes. Waves of homophobia rock the country - not necessarily new feelings, but ones which are stirred and made more public by media attention.

It's still safe, in the closet. She can't be toppled from her fragile pedestal. She isn't called upon to wade into political debates, doesn't alienate the parents of her fans who are not yet old enough to buy her music themselves.

Perhaps there is someone special. She hides it in the guise of a friendship, spends time with them but swears to the press that it's platonic. Like letting your grandma know your girlfriend as you "friend", only instead of your grandma, it's the paparazzi that your publicist has called, the cameras that follow you whether you really want them or not. As long as there's occasionally a handsome young man on her arm, most people won't suspect a thing, not expecting to see a different narrative being played out. Like a sleight of hand, played in the suit of hearts.

And maybe, just maybe, one day she'll be famous enough, and the world will have changed enough, that it won't come tumbling down if she does come out.

 

 

 

* * *

 

Berger, R.M. (1992) Passing and Social Support Among Gay Men. In  _Journal of Homosexuality_ 23(3):85-98

Fuller, C. B., Chang, D. F., and Rubin, L. R. (2009) Sliding Under the Radar: Passing and Power Among Sexual Minorities. In  _Journal of LGBT Issues in Counselling_ 3(2):128-151

Larson, D.G. and Chastain, R. L. (1990) Self-Concealment: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Health Implications. In  _Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology_ 9(4):439-455


	2. Lyrics and Themes: Queering Taylor's Discography

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the delay in completing this chapter. I made the foolish mistake of posting the first chapter right before a month in which I would be working 26 out of 30 days... and I did not anticipate that right after my first chapter, there would be a public Kaylor meeting for the first time in two years.
> 
> This chapter looks a lot at the lyrics of Taylor's song, and it might be helpful to have lyrics on hand.  
> [A-Z Lyrics's Taylor Swifr Page](https://www.azlyrics.com/t/taylorswift.html)  
> [Taylor Swift official Youtube account](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqECaJ8Gagnn7YCbPEzWH6g)  
> [Taylor Swift Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/artist/06HL4z0CvFAxyc27GXpf02)
> 
> Also potentially of use, a [cheat sheet](https://www.billboard.com/photos/1484087/taylor-swifts-boyfriend-timeline-12-relationships-their-songs) (or a list from Billboard, your call on terminology) of Taylor Swift's confirmed and rumoured male love interests over the years.

# Pronouns and Ambiguity

 

It has been noted how many of Taylor Swift's songs have no gender pronouns in them. And perhaps it's not surprising: for one thing, it makes it easy for anyone to sing or cover, opening it up to a wider audience.

However some have found the extensive use of gender-neutral terms to be reminiscent of the "[pronoun game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronoun_game)", a method of holding conversations without revealing the gender of at least one of the people about whom one is talking. Most commonly, the "pronoun game" is an act performed to hide sexual identity, specifically by hiding the gender of a romantic partner. While it can have other uses (I have at least one friend who struggles to use my they/them pronouns correctly and therefore rearranges sentences to use no pronouns at all), it is likely that closeting is the most common use of the pronoun game to this day.

Tumblr user [all-my-possessions](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/128930569984/) has done an excellent breakdown and list of pronouns in Taylor's songs up to and including her album  _1989_. Inspired by this, I ran an analysis of all of Taylor's songs up to and including  _reputation_ ; I excluded covers, and those songs which Taylor performed but did not write ("Half of My Heart" and "Two is Better Than One"). I have specifically looked at the pronouns involved in relationships; therefore "Ronan" is counted as having no gendered relationship despite containing he/him pronouns.

The following chart shows the distribution of pronouns in the one hundred and twelve songs written and (partially-)performed by Taylor Swift from 2006 to 2018.

 

 

 

Ninety of the songs, or 83%, have no gendered relationship in the pronouns - they use only first and second person; I, you, and we. 

Arguably more interesting, though, are those songs of Taylor's which  _do_ use he/him pronouns or male names - they are not often as simple as being sung from "her" to "him". Since the real-life inspirations cited for  _Starlight_ (Robert and Ethel Kennedy) and  _Ronan_ (Ronan Thompson), they don't exactly fit into the same mould, I'll be setting them aside for the rest of this chapter - they aren't songs that have ever claimed to be autobiographical or even inspired by Taylor's real life experiences, so they're not really relevant to where we're heading with this.

Only four songs out of Taylor's discography feature names - "Cory" of  _Stay Beautiful_ and "Drew" of  _Teardrops On My Guitar,_  "Stephen" for  _Hey Stephen_ , and "John" of _Dear John._ These were all from 2006 to 2010 respectively, and since then Taylor has been almost infamously coy about refusing to name the inspirations for individual songs. There are a number of attempts online to identify the people behind various songs, and sometimes in Rep Rooms and pre- or post-show meets people say that Taylor will reveal the inspiration behind a particular song. But these are never official announcements. For the most part, it's trying to match up clues - eye colours, hair colours, timelines, sometimes even birthdays. So over time, Taylor has becoming increasingly coy, or increasingly private, about exactly to whom she is singing.

It's also interesting to note that the [original demo version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtLdmsjel-I) of _Teardrops on My Guitar_ , penned in 2005, was gender-neutral. Taylor has never stated why she changed them, and Drew Hardwick - former schoolmate of Taylor's whom it is generally assumed the song is about - has stated that he was never aware of her having feelings for him. Whilst this fits the narrative of unrequited affection, it does also raise the possibility that the song was never about Drew at all, and that his name was a convenient rhyme when Taylor decided to gender the song. Taylor has also released handwritten drafts of various of her songs on recent years, showing the development process; this includes [the lyrics for Wildest Dreams](https://twitter.com/tayftswift/status/645682894258733056?lang=en) which show markedly fewer "he"s and a lot more "you"s than the end version.

[Musicians are starting to speak out](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-43656866) about the [pressure put on them](https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2016/apr/22/do-it-boy-as-olly-alexander-sings-the-music-world-needs-to-get-real) to [sing "straight" love songs even if they are openly queer](https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1472-breaking-the-last-taboo-in-queer-music-same-sex-pronouns-in-pop/), or simply to not come out at all. A number of Gaylor Swift theorists do wonder whether Taylor was encouraged or forced to add male names and pronouns, especially in her early albums before she had the sort of status which she now has, to appease a heterocentric view of marketing and audiences.

 

**Reported Speech: He Said, She Said**

A number of Taylor Swift's songs with male pronouns also have reported speech, or indirect speech. This is where the narrator or speaker relays something which was said by another person - it's not strongly marked in English, compared to a number of other languages where reported speech is in the subjunctive. This is important, because it means that in English, Taylor can sing either quote or summarise another person's words and still have them sound like her own.

Reported speech has appeared in Taylor's songs almost from the beginning. In her 2006 single  _Our Song_ , she sings "the first date, man, I didn't kiss her when I should have" twice - and the version with a "him" pronoun only once. The triumphant peak of her 2008 hit  _Love Story_ features her singing "Marry me, Juliet" - only, of course, it's reported speech. In 2010,  _Speak Now_ uses reported speech to 'reply' to the offer to leave the altar, and interestingly, the song  _Mine_ , from  2010, has reported speech without a male pronoun. Taylor never gives the gender of the person singing that they "fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter", simply says, "she is the best thing that's ever been mine".

Similar in format is  _How You Get The Girl,_ from 2014. It is a mixture of instruction and a chorus of reported speech, the reveal at the end of "that's how you got the girl" indicates that Taylor is the "her" that has been referred to throughout, but again her love interest has no specified gender. 

 

**Compare and Contrast**

Three of Taylor's songs explicitly contrast a relationship with "he" with a relationship with "you", and find "him" to be unsatisfactory or unpleasant. These are  _The Way I Loved You_ , from 2008, _Haunted_ from 2010, and  _Begin Again,_ from 2012. 

 _The Way I Love You_ states, "he's charming and endearing and I'm comfortable. But I miss [...] the way I loved you" - her current relationship with a man is what other people would expect, and ticks all the societal boxes, but there is no indication of real passion or feeling for him. In contrast, her relationship with her past, gender still unspecified, lover, was tumultuous and difficult, potentially unhealthy, but at least she was in love.  _Haunted_ says "He will try to take away my pain, and he just might make me smile, but the whole time I'm wishing he was you instead", following a similar theme of a superficially acceptable relationship, one which should work, but is not because the singer still has feelings for someone who has since left. Both of these songs are about past relationships which overshadow present ones, making the men that Taylor tries to date inadequate in the shadow of her past, gender-unspecified, lover.

 _Begin Again_ takes a rather different, and sharper, direction. Here, "you" is the present, while "he" in the past is shown negatively and, to be honest, as borderline abusive. "I think it's strange that you think I'm funny 'cause he never did" is the clearest line of the song that makes it clear this past man has had a bad effect on Taylor - "I'm coming off a little shy" and "you don't know how nice that is" make it clear that the past relationship has hurt her, made her nervous, but at the same time made her appreciative of the "you" who is acting pleasantly and supportively. Interestingly, though,  _Begin Again_ is the only song in which the man is  _also_ thrown into direct contrast with Taylor herself: "He didn't like it when I wore high heels, But I do."

This song, third of her series with contrasting relationships, is the only one to look forward to the new relationship rather than back to the old one, and the only one in which Taylor acknowledges things about herself which make her happy. It shows a self-confidence and self-awareness which is perhaps somewhat lacking in the earlier ones, a more mature understanding of who she deserves to be and the sort of relationship which she deserves to have. 

Tumblr user all-my-possessions has an excellent [essay on this topic](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/129785594274/he-you-and-i-lyrical-opposition-as-a-metaphor), which goes into much more detail than I can here, about the opposition of "you" and "he" in these three songs, and about their links to Taylor's wider discography. It makes for great in-depth reading.

 

**I, You and He: How Many People?**

One of the noticeable features of Taylor's songs is that many of them have both "you" and "he" in the same song - and apparently having them refer to the same person. This appeared as early as her first album, with the first line of  _Tim McGraw_ difficult to make out as "He said the way my blue eyes shined" or "You said the way my blue eyes shined" ("he" appears in most official lyrics that I have been able to source online), and  _Stay Beautiful_ moves back and forth between "he" and "you" over the course of the song. It appeared famously in  _Love Story_  with "We were both young when I first saw you" moving by the end of the song to, "he knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring".

This movement of pronoun also has not stopped over time. Taylor's 2017 single  _...Ready For It?_ also shifts from "Knew he was a killer first time that I saw him" to "You should see the things we do, baby". By  _...Ready For It?_ , there is even a distinct musical difference between the verses with the "he" pronoun and the bridges and choruses with the "you" pronoun. The [music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIft-t-MQuE) for  _...Ready For It?_ is also full of duality, of Taylor fighting against another version of herself, processing through her emotions and preparing to be set free. Indeed, it is building on the same conflict-with-self seen in the  _Look What You Made Me Do_ music video.

In early songs, the movement from "he" to "you" was barely noticeable, but by  _...Ready For It?_ the contrast has become marked, almost jarring. Of course, songs do not need to have the same clear points of view and narrators as most prose does, but for some Gaylor Swift theorists the noticeable and increasing contrast suggests that there might be something more hidden in the lyrics. By  _...Ready For It?_ , the longing words to the romantic interest of the song (never shown in the music video) are disjointed from the male pronouns of the person Taylor calls her "jailor", and of whom she considers "holding him for ransom". Are some of the "you" figures of songs not, in fact, the same as the "he" figures at all?

 

 

 

# Gendered Words?

 

Some of the songs without gendered pronouns do have words and lyrics which have gendered connotations. The most common symbols are princes and princesses ( _Love Story, Starlight, Today Was a Fairytale, Angelina, White Horse)_ or kings and queens ( _Long Live, Blank Space, King of My Heart),_ but the word "boy" appears in a number of her lyrics as well.

However, it is well worth remembering that gender-variant terms are not unknown to the LGBT community. Moreover, both neutral and 'masculine' terms can be applied to women, and have been in music. Some instances include:

  * "They say she's king of Torquay Island" - _Electra_ , by Marianne Faithful
  * "She's my man" -  _She's My Man_ by The Scissor Sisters
  * "We should just be each other's boyfriends" -  _Boyfriends_ by Jenna Marbles



For the most part, though, these words are only connotations, never explicit meanings. Moreover, the lyrics in question often also have a fairy-tale quality, which may be more important in this case than masculine ones. The icons of princes and princesses have usually been associated in Taylor Swift's songs with romance and fairy tales, either with acceptance of them ( _Love Story_ ,  _Today Was a Fairytale_ ) or in feeling that such a romance will never be for her ( _White Horse_ ).

Another example of potentially gendered language used in Taylor's songs is the range of words which she uses to convey attractiveness. The distribution of the terms beautiful, handsome, gorgeous and pretty can be seen below. In songs marked with **, all or most of the song is sung in the second person, to "you", despite the male name in the first line or title of the song.

 

Although none of these words are strictly gendered, "beautiful", "handsome" and "pretty" all have connotations of either masculine or feminine attractiveness. For an easy way of visualising this, I have used [Google Books Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/info), which searches for the use of phrases in written text over the last two hundred years.

Here, it can be seen that Taylor Swift strictly uses "pretty" for female figures (herself, the female classmate said to have inspired Tied Together With a Smile, or other named female figures), but that it is less clear-cut with other terms. For handsome and gorgeous, the sample is so small that it is difficult to draw conclusions. Handsome is [generally used for men more than women](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=handsome%20man%2Chandsome%20woman&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Chandsome%20man%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chandsome%20woman%3B%2Cc0), while gorgeous is [becoming increasingly feminine in use but has not historically had so clear a trend](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=gorgeous+man%2Cgorgeous+woman&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cgorgeous%20man%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgorgeous%20woman%3B%2Cc0). [Pretty strongly tends to being used for women](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=pretty+man%2Cpretty+woman&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cpretty%20man%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cpretty%20woman%3B%2Cc0). 

Interesting, though, is Taylor Swift's use of beautiful. Historically, beautiful is [much more often used for women than for men](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=beautiful+man%2Cbeautiful+woman&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cbeautiful%20man%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cbeautiful%20woman%3B%2Cc0). But Taylor has used it repeatedly for the named male love interests of her early songs, even subverting "tall, dark and handsome" into "tall, dark and beautiful" for  _Superman_ in 2010. It certainly indicates that Taylor is willing, at least sometimes, to bend gendered expectations for words and to use them in new ways instead.

Taylor has rarely openly sung about women, so it's hard to find concrete examples of where she has done the same in the other direction. But this fluid gendering of words does raise questions about some of those other songs which have no genders at all. One of those most commonly questioned in this manner is  _King of My Heart_ , which uses "you" throughout and pairs the titular king with Taylor's "American Queen". The English word "King" derives from a Proto-Germanic word which was likely technically gender-neutral and meant "ruler"; throughout history, various women have been crowned as King, including the Ancient Egyptian Hatshepshut, King of Poland Jadwiga of Anjou, Christina of Sweden (who took her oath as King of Sweden), and Elizabeth I of England who ruled as  _Elizabeth Rex_. As street artist James de la Vega declared in one of his early pieces of work, "[Sometimes the king is a woman.](https://twitter.com/berrycampbell7/status/663745494284410881)"

It all seems a little obscure for a Taylor Swift song, though... or it did until 1st July 2018, when TaylorNation on Instagram posted [this image](https://dancingthroughanavalance.tumblr.com/post/175430026327) of the crowd at one of of Taylor's concerts, with the caption "Taylor is the  of our ♥'s!". (It appears to have since been deleted from Instagram, but on the internet nothing ever really goes away.) Grocer's apostrophe aside, it was clearly a reference to  _King of My Heart_ , only this time casting Taylor as the King.

Sometimes the king is a woman. 

 

**Lavender Linguistics**

In the 1990s, William Leap proposed a field of study called "Lavender Linguistics", which [studies the way that the queer community uses language](https://femguist.wordpress.com/2014/11/25/introduction-to-lavender-linguistics/), and the way that language is used about the queer community. He went on to found the [Journal of Language and Sexuality](https://benjamins.com/catalog/jls),  It recognises that language can be used to create a shared identity, and to communicate that identity to others, as well as to enforce or subvert cultural norms. Historically, there have been entire English dialects, such as [Polari](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/may/24/polari-language-origins), which have been associated with the gay male community.

While such dialects are no longer so widely used in English, [features of them remain](https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2016/8/17/lavender-linguistics-queer-way-speak). One of the most common is she-ing, or referring to a man using she/her pronouns either in order to disguise the queer nature of the relationship or to reinforce a sense of gay male identity. Studies indicate it has lasted across centuries, and has arisen not just in different countries but on different continents. She-ing remains with the English-speaking North American gay male community in use of terms like "girl" and"queen", seen even in 2018 on  _Queer Eye For the Straight Guy_ and used even for the male contestants (not just their characters) on  _RuPaul's Drag Race_. 

Lesbian gender-variant language has not traditionally been as marked or distinctive, although linguists such as Robin Queen indicate that there are still indicators. [Butch lesbians](https://www.them.us/story/butch-please) may not necessarily agree on whether they are performing masculinity, or performing a [queer female gender identity](http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32368/1/Final%20JONES%20March%202014%20Masculinity%20in%20lesbian%20discourse.pdf) that rejects a masculine-feminine binary, but for all their media invisibility they exist, proudly, and break social conventions of femininity. One notable use is the word "boi", such as by the [Boi Society](https://boisociety.com/about/).

In short, queer people do use language differently, and perhaps it is time for language and song analysis to take these into account as possibilities. Until or unless Taylor Swift states her sexual orientation - and so far, she has not - analyses which are based on queer linguistic use are no more or less valid than those based on heterosexual linguistic use. Perhaps it's time to broaden our horizons, and think a little bit outside the closet, when it comes to looking at lyrics.

 

 

# "If a Girl Sang It": Singing to 'Her'

 

So, most of Taylor Swift's songs are sung to "you", an ungendered figure, and a few are to our about "him", especially from her earlier years. But Taylor Swift has sung to and about women as well, over the years, and it isn't just Gaylor Swift theorists who have noticed. Taylor's general fanbase, and the general public, can't help but be aware. It's been one of the things which has seen her labelled as a great LGBT+ ally - but it's one of the things which has made some people wonder whether she is a member, and not an ally, of the community. Taylor's songs to 'her' include covers, songs which she has performed in duet, and a handful of her own melodies. 

Covers of songs can be tricky when it comes to the gender of the participants in romantic songs. While some changes make sense simply as an alternate interpretation of a song, sometimes, well... it comes off as rather No Homo. Even [TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheCoverChangesTheGender) calls out this tendency in songs, with plenty of examples (though its 'aversions' section doesn't have any of the Taylor Swift examples which I am about to list!), and though some articles are [positive about such changes](https://www.theodysseyonline.com/replace-not-replace-pronouns-cover-songs), other places have been rather [more critical](https://www.theedgesusu.co.uk/features/2016/03/20/no-homo-the-unnecessary-act-of-changing-pronouns-in-song-covers/) in their discussion of trends and the No Homo implications of them.

If you haven't heard about Michael Bublé's cover of "Santa Baby", I strongly advise you to read about it. It [changed the lyrics to "Santa Buddy"](https://randalrauser.com/2011/12/bad-idea-of-the-week-michael-buble-singing-santa-baby/), [managed to be fiercely No Homo but also sound like Bublé would go gay for hockey tickets](https://medium.com/@caseynugent/lets-talk-about-michael-buble-s-terrible-no-homo-cover-of-santa-baby-9fbbe4df0049), and [made a marvellous example of forced heterosexuality and restrictive masculinity](https://wiux.org/read/santa-buddy-michael-buble-bad-lyric-changes-and-gendered-expectations/).

And poking around the internet, it certainly clear that there is interest in covers in which the pronouns are  _not_ changed. There are a lot more articles online about 'covers that keep the pronouns' than 'covers which change the pronouns' (as I discovered while researching this section), and sites from [Buzzfeed](https://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/girls-want-to-steal-jessies-girl-too) to [Autostraddle](https://www.autostraddle.com/28-gay-girl-covers-of-straight-songs-because-everythings-better-when-its-queered-249537/) to [CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bob-dylan-kesha-change-pronouns-in-songs-to-honor-lgbtq-relationships/) have shared lists of songs where the pronouns have not been changed. Amy Winehouse's cover of "Valerie" peaked at number two in the UK charts (the original peaked at number nine) and has sold over five times as many units as the original.

 

**Direct Covers**

Earlier in her career, Taylor Swift was known to sometimes change the pronouns of songs when she covered them, including her cover of ["Drops of Jupiter" by Train](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJwE8Lg2fZk) as part of her 2011 _Speak Now_ tour. However, it's been a few years since she has been seen to do so, and even before this she would cover songs keeping the pronouns intact. Examples of this include:

  * ["White Blank Page" by Mumford and Sons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4lDqeN9YeY), covered in April 2011 for the BBC Live Lounge
  * ["This Love" by Maroon 5](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2uo4q2), covered in August 2011 for her  _Speak Now_ tour
  * ["Just a Dream" by Nelly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfFfNGqR2_Y), covered in August 2011 for her  _Speak Now_ tour
  * ["Riptide" by Vance Joy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GGRdwfhl-U), covered in October 2014 for the BBC Live Lounge



A special mention needs to go to her [belting the title line of "I Wanna Kiss A Girl"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-QBbAhNukY) while pranking Keith Urban in Kansas City in 2009. She may simply have been covering for Urban while he was laughing too hard to sing the line himself, but that video simply deserves to be seen on its own merits.

Pretty much any Youtube video of such a cover will have comments beneath from queer fans saying how important to them it is to hear someone keeping the original pronouns and, in doing so, making a straight love song into a queer one. The cover of "Riptide", however, is not only one of Taylor Swift's most recent, but also one of the best known, being available in high quality. (We'll also see in chapter five how the end of 2014 is a critical era to many Gaylor Swift theorists). Taylor smiles throughout, lost in the song, tone and expression adoring as she sings about being "scared of pretty girls and starting conversations".

Interestingly, when Taylor talks about her cover of "Riptide", she says that she wants to hear ["what it would sound like if a girl sang it"](http://tasteofcountry.com/taylor-swift-riptide-vance-joy-video/) - but did not change any of the lyrics or pronouns. The result is that "if a girl sang it" appears to mean "if a  _queer_ girl sang it". The song is beautiful and haunting... and very, very gay.

 

**Sharing Songs**

Over the years, Taylor has also made a number of performances with other artists where she has kept the pronouns of their songs - even if that means singing to or about female love interests. Examples of  _this_ sort of cover include:

  * ["Pour Some Sugar on Me" with Def Leppard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4z5XlG6ras), performed in June 2008 for CMT Crossroads
  * ["Cheerleader" with Omi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ye2t_rAurs), performed in August 2015 for her  _1989_ tour
  * ["There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back" with Shawn Mendez](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9oo96Th-0c), performed in August 2018 for her  _reputation_ tour



And a couple of special mentions:

  * ["Closer" with Tegan and Sara](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ip8GWAfzfM), performed in August 2013 for her  _Red_ tour
  * ["Curious" with Hayley Kiyoko](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tScqvgCgvJQ), performed in July 2018 for her  _reputation_ tour



It's probably pretty apparent why I've separated the two groups. When performing with male artists, Taylor has shown herself to be more than happy to sing to female love interests - but the latter two examples are slightly different. "Closer" is gender-neutral in its lyrics, sung to "you", but Tegan and Sara are of course out lesbians, and the album _Heartthrob_ , from which "Closer" was taken, was their first to feature gendered pronouns.

"Curious", though, is something else altogether. Hayley Kiyoko is also openly lesbian, and has spoken about the decision to come out and explicitly sing to other women in her music. "Curious", [as Hayley Kiyoko has discussed in an interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHZxHvqNEAU) with Billboard, is a song to a woman who has left her for a man in order to hide her sexuality. Taylor Swift performed "Curious" on stage with Hayley Kiyoko, enthusiastically singing from the point of view of a queer woman whose lover has left her, and all but grinding on another woman onstage. While obviously no individual song can ever be taken as a statement on a singer's sexuality, Gaylor Swift theorists have noticed how much Taylor seemed to  _enjoy_ the song and the performance, in much the same way as she had enjoyed "Riptide" four years ago.

 

**"Boys and Boys and Girls and Girls"**

There are only two instances in Taylor's official lyrics which appear to refer to queer relationships. The first of these was from "Welcome to New York" from her 2014 album  _1989_ , which included the lyrics: 

> "Everybody here was someone else before,  
>  And you can want who you want, boys and boys and girls and girls."

At the time of its release, this lyric garnered a lot of media attention. Sites such as [Time](http://time.com/3528687/taylor-swift-welcome-to-new-york-1989-new-track-gay/), [Slate](http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/10/20/taylor_swift_welcome_to_new_york_new_song_from_1989_is_a_pro_gay_synth_pop.html?via=gdpr-consent), and [Teen Vogue](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/taylor-swift-1989-life-lessons) all commented positively on Taylor's lyrics. Even if sites did not much like the song, they tended to appreciate the nod to the queer community. Taylor has said that it was inspired by the legalisation of gay marriage in New York in 2011; she moved to New York in March 2014.

The second is rather more subtle. The background singers of "[Call It What You Want](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V54CEElTF_U)" (lyric video released November 2017) sing, at about 2:35, "I'm the one  **she's** walking to". It is clearly deliberate, clearly part of the official lyrics, but has never been formally discussed or addressed.

With that in mind, then, perhaps there are a handful of other lyrics which are worth looking at with a more queer-friendly eye:

  * "When you think happiness, I hope you think of that little black dress. Think of my head on your chest, And my old faded blue jeans" - "Tim McGraw",  _Taylor Swift_ (2006) 
  * "And I broke down crying; was she worth this mess?" - "The Other Side of the Door",  _Fearless_ (2008)
  * "Your lover in the foyer doesn't even know you" - "The Lucky One",  _Red_ (2012)
  * "I can't decide if it's a choice" - "Treacherous",  _Red_ (2012)
  * "Good girls, hopeful they'll be and long they'll wait" - "Sad, Beautiful, Tragic",  _Red_ (2012)
  * "Keep you second guessing, like, oh my god, who is she?" - "Blank Space",  _1989_ (2014)
  * "I say, 'I heard, oh, that you've been out and about with some other girl.' He says, 'What you've heard is true but I can't stop thinking about you,' and I... I said, 'I've been there too a few times'." - "Style",  _1989_ (2014)



To review every song that Taylor Swift has written or performed would take far too long for me to cover! In place of doing so, I recommend some great [queer song analysis](https://that-curly-haired-lesbian.tumblr.com/tagged/queer-analysis) by tumblr user that-curly-haired-lesbian, who has done a good number of Taylor's songs from the potential point of view of a queer performer, rather than a straight one. A lot of it is simply a matter of breaking down assumptions; the reading is just as valid as one that presumes heterosexuality.

 

**"She Never Loved Me": A Slip of the Tongue?**

Although Taylor's official lyrics have never had her sing to a woman, that doesn't mean that it hasn't happened. On various occasions throughout her career, Taylor has used "she" where her official lyrics say either "he" or "you".

Probably the most famous of these is her performance from iHeart Radio in September 2013. During  _I Knew You Were Trouble_ , Taylor sings "[and the saddest fear comes creeping in, that she never loved me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfYAIbwZH-E)". This was a live and televised performance with extremely clear audio. Notably, Gaylor Swift theorists were not the only ones to notice it - AfterEllen listed it as one of their [reasons that queer women should enjoy Taylor Swift](https://www.afterellen.com/people/230325-taylor-swift-gives-queer-ladies-a-reason-to-get-up-and-dance), and considering Taylor Swift has been friends with Ellen Degeneres for years, it seems unlikely that such an article would be up without her permission.

Footage exists of a number of other occasions when it is claimed that Taylor has sung "she". It is unclear whether these are deliberate, or are slips; sometimes it is not even wholly clear whether they are truly the word "she", or an elided "that you" becoming "thatcha". However, when taken in their entirety they provide quite a striking list.

  * "[She saw enough](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzjHXPMIqdE)", "she felt enough" (0:15, 0:40) in  _You Are in Love_ , Dublin, Ireland, June 2015
  * "[She felt enough](https://whaler13bg.tumblr.com/post/125034120292/she-felt-enough-in-ottawa-ontario-at-canadian-tire)" in  _You Are in Love_ , Ottawa, Canada, July 2015
  * "[She felt enough](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEgUxY6zG2A)" in  _You Are in Love_ , Shanghai, China, November 2015
  * "[That she never loved me](https://www.bilibili.com/video/av2660898/)" in  _I Knew You Were Trouble_ , unknown tour date during 2015
  * "[That she never loved me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gJL4MbGge4&feature=youtu.be)" in  _I Knew You Were Trouble_ , Austin, Texas, USA, October 2016 
  * "[That she were Romeo](https://kaleid-tay-scope.tumblr.com/post/174165441703/this-sure-sounds-a-lot-like-she-were-romeo)" in  _Love Story_ , Pasadena, California, USA, May 2018



The songs most commonly marked as receiving this treatment, as seen here, are  _Love Story_ ,  _I Knew You Were Trouble, and You Are in Love_. 

Perhaps it is also notable that, despite some digging, I have not found any claimed examples of her doing the opposite and singing male pronouns instead of female or neutral ones.

 

 

 

# Secret and Transgressive: Taylor's Love Stories

 

**Hidden Love**

Two of the themes that have run strongly through Taylor Swift's lyrics, from _Taylor Swift_ to  _reputation_ , have been those of secret relationships and of transgression. This certainly makes sense for her first few albums, not just as a marketing technique that appealed to her young audience but also because almost any relationship at this age feels daring, rule-breaking, and generally like the most important thing in the world. (We've all been there.)

> "When you're on the phone and you talk real slow,  
>  'cause it's late and your momma don't know"
> 
> - _Our Song_ , from  _Taylor Swift_ (2006)

 

> "You were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles,  
>  And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"  
>  [...]  
>  We keep quiet, 'cause we're dead if they knew."  
>  - _Love Story_ , from  _Fearless_ (2008)

 

Taylor was in her teens when she wrote these songs, but that does not mean that they were not still calculated to please an audience, or that their imagery was not manipulated. Tumblr user [all-my-possessions](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/121296331459/demythologizing-love-story-a-study-in-post) has, in particular, charted the change in the narrative that has surrounded  _Love Story_. On first release, it was portrayed as being based on a personal experience of a forbidden or undesirable relationship, but over time has changed to being inspired by the Shakespeare play, to being a more conceptual exploration of forbidden love.

But perhaps it is more surprising that these themes have continued well into Taylor's adult years. Their execution has become more elegant with time, but that does not change the fact that they remain. Perhaps the most striking demonstration of these was her  _1989_ song _[I Know Places](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iRTzCmfrKM)_. This song not only talks of a secret relationship, but indicates that a lack of secrecy - not just privacy, but secrecy - is dangerous.

> "Something happens when everybody finds out,  
>  See the vultures circling, dark clouds"  
>  [...]  
>  "Baby, I know places we won't be found  
>  And they'll be chasing their tails trying to track us down  
>  'Cause I, I know places we can hide,  
>  I know places."  
>  - _I Know Places_ , from  _1989_ (2014)
> 
>  

From the same album, the song  _Wonderland_ continues the theme of secrecy and of people watching. This song was not made available on the main album, but appeared on the deluxe edition.

> "But there were strangers watching,  
>  And whispers turned to talking,  
>  And talking turned to screams."  
>  - _Wonderland_ , from  _1989 (Deluxe Edition)_ (2014)

 

The 2017 album  _reputation_ also includes elements of secrecy, from the overt "I, I loved you in secret" that opens  _Dancing With Our Hands Tied_  and "Our secret moments in a crowded room" of _Dress_ to the more subtle references of "hiding my obsession" in  _Don't Blame Me_ and "your love is a secret" in  _King of My Heart_. In all, seven out of fifteen of the songs from  _reputation_ make some sort of reference to secrecy.

Taylor certainly has reasons to want privacy in her life. As her star has risen, she has faced a [number of stalkers](https://popculture.com/country-music/2018/06/02/10-alleged-taylor-swift-stalkers/) and invasions of her privacy, above and beyond even those which are faced by other media figures. Since the 2005-6  _News of the World_ phone hacking scandal in the UK, which would over the course of five years lead to the closure of a newspaper which had been in existence for over one hundred and sixty years, there have been a string of increasingly large and high-profile hacking and leaking incidents. In August 2014, over five hundred images, mostly of female celebrities and often containing nudity, were [leaked from iCloud storage](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29011850). Taylor was not affected. However, websites such as _Celeb Jihad_ (which shares both real leaked nudes and photomanipulated images) and magazines such as  _Celebrity Skin_ continue to trade in often secretly-obtained images.

However, for many, Taylor's songs seem to go beyond this. In particular, it is worth noting the  _1989_ theme of outside forces pressing in; it does not seem to be a fear for herself, but for her relationships, which is reflected in Taylor's lyrics. A [handy list of publicised breakup reasons by Vulture](http://www.vulture.com/2016/09/how-tabloid-sources-reported-each-taylor-swift-breakup.html) indicates that Jake Gyllenhaal (October to December 2010) and Calvin Harris (March 2015 to June 2016) may have broken up with Taylor for reasons that included high publicity - but Gyllenhaal was years before  _1989_ or  _reputation_ , and Calvin Harris came after  _1989_. 

So, to whom is Taylor singing when she promises, in  _I Know Places_ , that she knows the value of secret relationships and places that they can conduct them? Although her relationship with Harry Styles (December 2012 to January 2013) was highly publicised, this was never indicated in their break-up, and between Harry Styles and Calvin Harris Taylor was not linked with any other men or indicated to be dating anyone.

 

**Hidden Heartbreak**

Of note alongside these stories of hidden love is a stark one of hidden heartbreak. Taylor Swift has been both lauded and vilified for processing her relationships through songs, and it can hardly be said that any of her breakups have been all that private. And despite this, the following lines appear in her  _1989_ song  _Clean_ :

> "The water filled my lungs, I screamed so loud  
>  But no-one heard a thing."  
>  - _Clean_ , from  _1989_ (2014)

 

This implication of a hidden heartbreak could just be a reflection of the almost inevitable loneliness that comes with a break-up. But some, including Gaylor Swift theorists, have wondered whether it nods to a relationship or relationships which Taylor did not make public, ones which she was never able to openly mourn.

 

**Cross the Line: Transgressions of Song**

Like the matter of secrecy, love always seems transgressive to teenagers. Imagery of Romeo and Juliet ( _Love Story_ ) and sneaking out ( _Our Song_ ) is actually pretty rare among Taylor's early work - there are more songs of unrequited love or the transition from a normal high school student to a global musical sensation. One of the earliest songs which goes beyond this is  _Mine_ :

> "You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter;  
>  You are the best thing that's ever been mine."  
>  - _Mine_ , from  _Speak Now_ (2010)

 

This could be seen as a contrast of personality, however - and it pales beside the themes present in  _Ours_ , from the same album:

> "Seems like there's always  
>  Someone who disapproves,  
>  They'll judge it like they know about me and you."  
>  - _Ours_ , from  _Speak Now_  (2010)

 

The [music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ34LlaIk88) for  _Ours_ has an admittedly very sweet romance between the narrator, played by Taylor, and her military boyfriend whose return from active service she is awaiting. However, in 2010 there was not the sort of backlash against military figures or their partners to justify this level of transgressive coding, or the amount of protectiveness. The boyfriend is white, his mentioned tattoos are not visible in the intercut home videos or during his return at the end of the video, has no visual indicators of being of a different religion from Taylor's character, and generally does not seem to have a reason for the social disapproval which the lyrics imply.

Again, this theme of going against societal disapproval has continued into Taylor's more recent albums. Whether it is  _Red_ ( _Red_ , 2012) describing loving it's subject as "passionate as sin",  _Treacherous ( _Red_ , 2012)_ saying that "this path is reckless" and "you're friction", or  _I Wish You Would_ ( _1989_ , 2014) describing "a crooked love in a straight line town", the theme of a love which is not approved continues to wend its way through Taylor's lyrics.

Taylor has certainly faced backlash over the years for her dating patterns, but usually this has seemed to be for the audacity of dating at all, and seemed to come more from the media than from her nearest and dearest.  _Ours_ is generally linked to John Mayer, whom Swift is rumoured to have dated between December 2009 and October 2010. Mayer was 32 at the time to Swift's 19-20, certainly a large enough age gap to raise eyebrows, and [reports at the time](https://www.celebitchy.com/90524/john_mayer_brags_about_taylor_swift_spending_the_night_in_his_hotel_room/) indicated that Andrea, Taylor's mother, vehemently disapproved. As recently as 2016 Mayer has taken jabs at Swift in [tweets](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a41433/john-mayer-taylor-swift-birthday-tweet/) and [songs](https://studybreaks.com/culture/music/is-john-mayers-new-single-another-jab-at-taylor-swift/), which doesn't exactly speak well of him or his behaviour.

So perhaps Mayer, bad boy of the day, inspired the lyrics. But not everybody is convinced. And those doubts only grew stronger in 2017, with the release of  _reputation_ and a resurgence of what felt now like a well-trodden theme.  _Call It What You Want_ is, in tone, all but a dare to critics regarding a controversial or disapproved-of relationship, while indications of transgression continue throughout the album.

> "I, I loved you in spite of,  
>  Deep fears that the world would divide us.  
>  So, baby can we dance  
>  Through an avalanche?"  
>  - _Dancing With Our Hands Tied_ , from  _reputation_ (2017)

 

> "Don't blame me, love made me crazy -  
>  If it doesn't, you ain't doing it right.  
>  [...]  
>  And baby, for you, I would fall from grace,  
>  Just to touch your face."  
>  - _Don't Blame Me_ , from  _reputation_ (2017) 

 

> "You make me so happy, it turns back to sad.  
>  There's nothing I hate more than what I can't have."  
>  - _Gorgeous_ , from  _reputation_ (2017)

 

 _reputation_ is the album with the most talk of transgression and the forbidden, the album which goes beyond secrecy and starts to reveal a reason for that secrecy - that the relationship will not meet with societal or family approval. In the time between  _1989_ and  _reputation_ , Taylor has been romantically linked with DJ Calvin Harris, with actor Tom Hiddleston, and now with actor Joe Alwyn. Although there has been some uncertainty about timelines, and controversy about whether Taylor may have started dating Hiddleston before breaking up with Harris, none of these relationships really seem to have drawn the sort of ire that would seem appropriate to produce such an intense feeling of criticism.

The emotional intensity which the songs carry certainly does not hurt their popularity. There is a reason that tropes like "us against the world" are so popular, and stories about forbidden relationships may have more selling power than accepted ones. But the love stories which Taylor tells have only become more forbidden and transgressive with the years - despite being an adult with the freedom to date whom she wishes, she still promises secretly and says that what she wants is what she can't have.

Other than Taylor Lautner, back in August to December 2009, all of Taylor Swift's boyfriends have been white, and single at the time of their meeting. Some may have been older than her, and some younger, but only Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal has ever been outside the 'half your age plus seven' guideline (and then, they were both older, where an older man with a younger woman is more socially acceptable than the opposite). Harris, Hiddleston and Alwyn have all been firmly within socially accepted boundaries.

So who is Taylor's transgressive love? Who has she loved without reason, for whom has she fallen from grace, for whom did she rebel?

Some people look at Taylor's public relationships and see the sort of PR romances that have been known and practised in Hollywood for so many years, and think that perhaps these relationships have not been Taylor's real ones. That perhaps there have been other relationships driving her songwriting, ones whose influences can be seen by looking at the general news of Taylor's life and not just the images which the media are given.


	3. The Road to Stardom; Emily Poe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of the original sources from this era have been lost to Taylor's removal of her social media presence over the years. However, a number of sites to retain information from this time - nothing ever really disappears from the internet.
> 
> [This tumblr](http://tswiftmyspace.tumblr.com/) has backed up Taylor's MySpace posts from 2006 to 2008.  
> [Rare Swifts](http://rareswifts.tumblr.com/), also on tumblr, collects and shares rare and/or old Taylor Swift images; their [Emily Poe](http://rareswifts.tumblr.com/tagged/emily%20poe) tag provides important records from this time.  
> Likewise, 10yearsoftaylor has an [Emily Poe](http://10yearsoftaylor.tumblr.com/tagged/emily-poe) tag, and includes years where known  
> [KarliesKupkake](http://karlieskupkake.tumblr.com/post/143382995949/taymily-masterpost) has perhaps the definitive masterpost from this period.

# The Road to Stardom

 

Taylor was interested in music and performance from a young age, and in her tweens started to develop her songwriting and guitar performance. The family moved to Nashville in 2003 to facilitate her break into country music, and from 11th grade (age 16 to 17) she transferred to a high school which allowed partial homeschooling, in order to give her time to create music ([starting recording in Nov 2005](http://tswiftmyspace.tumblr.com/post/4318336690/recording)) and, before too long, to start touring. Her first single, _Tim McGraw_ , released in June 2006, her first album  _Taylor Swift_ following in October, and over the following months Taylor toured the country promoting her music through live radio and studio performances.

By [July 2006](http://tswiftmyspace.tumblr.com/post/4318398936/the-road), Taylor was getting used to being on the road. Her performances consisted of herself on guitar and vocals, further guitar provided by Todd Lombardo, and fiddle by Emily Poe; an example of such a performance can be seen in her [24 July 2006 performance at Whisky a Go Go](https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/taylor-swift-with-emily-poe-on-fiddle-and-todd-lombardo-news-footage/187290991), in West Hollywood. As well as solo performances, she also worked as an opening act for various country singers, including Rascal Flatts, George Strait, and Brad Paisley. She continued to perform as an opening act throughout 2007 and 2008, but also made increasingly regular TV or event performances, such as the America's Got Talent season two finale, and the 42nd and 43rd ACM (Academy of Country Music) Awards.

In 2008, she released her second album,  _Fearless_ , and came to widespread public attention not just for the success of singles  _Love Story_ and  _You Belong With Me_ outside the country music scene but for the infamous incident of Kanye West interrupting her acceptance speech for the 2009 MTV Music Award for Best Female Video. In early 2010, she was awarded her first Grammys, and became the youngest ever artist to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association. By now, though, Taylor Swift was not just a name in country music - she was hitting number two in the charts (for  _You Belong With Me_ ), taking multiple American Music Awards, and from February 2009 was appearing and performing overseas in the [United Kingdom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3R_fLYRkOc) (for TV show _Loose Women_ ) and [Australia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVub1wU4SqU) (for charity concert _Sound Relief_ ).

In less than five years, Taylor Swift had travelled from musical high school student to worldwide star. She had gone from local tours to international flights, and from performing on stage with two other people to having an entire band, known as [The Agency](https://theswiftagency.com/profiles/), with her. It was a change of breathtaking proportions.

She had also embarked on the dating career which would be splashed all over the papers for years to come, with Joe Jonas in summer 2008, Taylor Lautner in autumn 2009, and John Mayer some time in early 2010. But some Gaylor Swift theorists wonder whether there was someone before Jonas, and whether Taylor's need for secrecy and for silence began just as her star blossomed.

 

 

# Emily Poe

Emily Poe (now Emily Stumler or Emily Poe Stumler) was Taylor's fiddle player from July 2006 to January 2008, during her days as an opening act. Her introduction to Taylor's life appears to have been in mid-late July 2006, as Taylor [posted on her MySpace](http://tswiftmyspace.tumblr.com/post/4318398936/the-road) about her band, including: 

 

> I have my little posse too now, Emily and Todd. Emily’s my fiddle player, she’s 21 and absolutely adorable. And it’s awesome, after every show there’s always a little group of people wanting her autograph. haha. She’s THAT good.

It's clear that there was strong admiration from the start. For much of this two years, Taylor and her band would be on the road together, sharing an RV and all but living together as Taylor went from opening act to a star in her own right. RareSwifts gives good examples of the images we have from this period of Emily and Taylor together, including:

  
http://rareswifts.tumblr.com/post/168865872500   
Unknown date or location

 

  
http://rareswifts.tumblr.com/post/160125495559   
Opening act for Rascal Flatts, Oct/Nov 2006

 

Known as the "Gay Texan" picture, this image is particularly well-known in the  
Gaylor Swift fandom. It's not clear what the sign originally said, but they appear  
to be standing deliberately so that it reads this way.

 

Emily appeared as an extra in the _Teardrops on My Guitar_ music video in [January 2007](http://tswiftmyspace.tumblr.com/post/4319244244/new-video-shoot-teardrops-on-my-guitar-and), presumably in-between [marathoning Grey's Anatomy](http://tswiftmyspace.tumblr.com/post/4319249397/more-from-the-road) and [pranking Rodney Atkins](http://tswiftmyspace.tumblr.com/post/4319528164/pranking-rodney-and-cma-dresses-3). In May or June 2007, Taylor posted a video on her MySpace dedicated to Emily; this post is now lost, but naturally many versions remain online. Set to _Stolen_ by Dashboard Confessional, the video features extensive footage from the first year or so that they toured together. It also strikes a lot of Gaylor Swift theorists as looking rather like - at the very least - Taylor had an intense crush on Emily.

Note the repeated lyric, "You have stolen my heart", and that at the end the handwritten sign saying "I love you, Emily ♡" which is handed from person to person before ending up with Taylor just in time for the fade out of the song.

People have also successfully transcribed the letter (visible at 0:28) which Taylor wrote for Emily. It reads:

 

> Emily - I feel as if our relationship has been taken to the next level over the past few months and with much contemplation I decided I would bestow upon you one of my most prized possessions: my flamingo bandanna. This is a 3rd generation family heirloom and I suggest you frame it. I think it will look perfect in your apartment with the cat pillows. Enjoy.

In Summer 2007, she joined the Swift family on their vacation to the Grand Canyon, and in October she and Taylor paired up their Halloween costumes to go as [The Wreckers](https://78.media.tumblr.com/2d05cd528beaee5ef0201125deabe62b/tumblr_n3srespWv31qcx7sso1_1280.jpg) (an American country duo).

In November 2007, Taylor [performed at the Country Music Awards](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkcE8-D-sSw) for the first time; her band by now had grown to five people accompanying her (while she continued to play guitar), still including Emily. This was the only time that Emily would perform with Taylor at the CMAs; at about 2:20 Emily comes out from behind the microphone so that she and Taylor can play and dance together at the front of the stage. Around this time, Taylor changed managers (from Rick Barker, to Robert Allen of the newly-created 13 Management).

It is known that on 13th December 2007, that Emily attended Taylor's 18th birthday party - images from that night, featuring her, appeared in the music video for _Beautiful Eyes_. However, by this time, Emily's contract had been terminated, and in January 2008 she had her last documented live performance with Taylor.

In May 2008, Taylor said [in interview](https://web.archive.org/web/20080504023531/http:/www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_9121730) that she had not so much as kissed a boy in two years.

 

 

**Life After Taylor**

Thanks to her connection with Taylor Swift, an update on Emily surfaced in 2017, for [Today's Woman](http://www.todayswomannow.com/2017/08/turning-point-from-taylor-swifts-band-to-a-courtroom.html/). After leaving the band, she took the LSAT, and studied at the University of Tennessee between 2008 and 2011. In 2010 she reconnected with old school friend Eli Stumler, and in 2011 they got engaged, she graduated, and they were married. Nowadays, she is Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, representing the State of Indiana in Harrison County. 

 

 

 

# The Story Unravels?

 

**VH1 Pop-Up Video**

At the time that Emily left the band, it was portrayed as entirely consensual - she was leaving the band in order to go to law school. However, a 2011 VH1 Pop Up Video for  _Our Song_  was mostly about Emily, and included the following:

In full, the pop-up text slides read:

 

> Emily was Taylor's first fiddle player and a close friend. Taylor's management said Emily left in 2008 to attend law school. She did go to law school - but that's not why she left. They fired her. No reason was given to Emily and a new fiddle player was hired immediately. Taylor never talked to her again. Taylor has said that all of her exes end up in songs. Her song "Breathe" is about having to say goodbye to someone close. In it she sings, "I'm sorry" repeatedly. Emily's never heard it.

There's perhaps a lot to unpack here. Details that have come out since indicate that Emily was handed her notice in November and played her final concert in January, so it was not as on-the-spot as the text suggests, but it was still clearly very sudden. The new fiddle player was the more established [Caitlin Evanson](https://theswiftagency.com/profiles/caitlin-evanson/), who would continue through the  _Fearless_ and  _Red_ tours. Note that VH1 do not outright say that Emily is an ex of Taylor's - but by placing the sentences beside each other, they quite clearly imply it. And yes, the song  _Breathe_ is widely rumoured to be about Emily.

 _Breathe_ was likely written in December 2007, based on one of Taylor's [MySpace posts](http://tswiftmyspace.tumblr.com/post/4319535942/one-week-and-counting-til-its-someones) which talks about working with Colbie Caillat. As  _Breathe_ is the only song which they have ever co-written, this gives us a fairly firm time for the recording. [all-my-possessions](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/125779407814/breathe-a-little-bump-in-the-road) talks about  _Breathe_ in more depth; in short, the song is usually described as being about losing a friend, but from time to time has been described as a "break-up" song. Emily's Twitter is private, but at least some of her Facebook posts are public; on 19th September 2017 she shared a [video](https://www.facebook.com/SPIN/videos/10159162600520408/?hc_ref=ARQq7vB1xjw7H7pq5Ikwk17caJdDHoE-83eCu3f0fQ5LDLjtf9Yt9yrjhDCtJOpSZus&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARAAWURIUrlApeYKpY-kjmwWQhxLba4YYAwLUzYQ40JSoUuSRrzaCgxAXjUoEzafTwGSJW_rbTGAzDYz78jYiQpYpnz7xhodUE3tQaOMlwIySQRcWuZwDxmNO-Kwfw82P3B50032CYxF6cZl2XrnpUjM5QpR2x74a2jOkbM9yx1vcLBqzhQ32p9zj_H3d_LwSpxjtsqjpf-JM_rrPOHPNSwYSw&__tn__=FC-R) listing the proposed inspirations behind all of Taylor's songs, and matching  _Breathe_ with Emily. On sharing the video, Emily wrote:

 

> I guess the rumors are true... you should be careful or Taylor Swift will write a song about you. Happy Tuesday Facebook!

When one of her friends commented with "Now I have to look up the lyrics to Breathe..." Emily responded with "Me too..."

([Screenshot of this exchange](http://iloveanimalssavetheworld.tumblr.com/post/174217390151/emily-poe-comment-about-song-breathe), which can also still be seen on Emily's Facebook.)

 _Breathe_ would not be played live until Taylor Swift's 2018  _reputation_ tour.

 

 

**Earlier Rumours**

The thing is, while the VH1 video was the first media questioning of what happened with Emily Poe, it was not the beginning of the rumours. Those had been on the internet for quite a while.

In 2009, Taylor Swift performed in the ["Roomies" sketch on SNL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNDrpWea8ZE). In a sort of homoerotic comedy, the main girl seems far more attached to and interested with her roommate (Taylor Swift) than her boyfriend. This was picked up on by AfterEllen, who described it as ["subtly gay"](https://www.afterellen.com/tv/62310-taylor-swift-goes-subtly-gay-on-an-snl-sketch). In the comments of this article someone left a comment - which [is still present](https://www.afterellen.com/tv/62310-taylor-swift-goes-subtly-gay-on-an-snl-sketch#comment-1686733723) \- stating:

 

> so tay gives no gay vibe for anyone?
> 
>   
>  a couple young cousins of mine went through Hendersonville High when Taylor was there, they stayed on and graduated after she left.  They say the inside talk about her was she was a pillow queen, she never gave so didn't consider herself to be bi. Also it was rumored that her fiddle player Emily that had been with her for a couple years and was suddenly gone was fired because she was caught "relieving Tay's stress in an inappropriately oral manner."  No idea if there was any truth to any of it, or if it was just jealous high school manufactured gossip.  She was always very close to her close girlfriends and still is as can be seen in the end of this home video she made [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w4A1vVaNmE](http://disq.us/url?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D8w4A1vVaNmE%3AC5vEYvsda1auk4ENiBJC-zoAt4Q&cuid=3274864)  Maybe the SNL skit was co-written by Taylor herself if she has first-hand experience at running off boyfriends because she and her best friends are too close.  I have to say I never get a gay vibe from her myself, and she always is such a sweet and adorable person you can't help but love her.

Clearly, this was second-hand gossip at best, but it does indicate that the rumours about Taylor Swift go back to at least 2009.

In the comments of the previously-linked Youtube copy of Taylor's video for Emily, someone also [commented](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvgO3Uc3Zk4&lc=Ugw5Qj1punbyYcJSJIh4AaABAg) (in 2011):

 

 

> ok. I cant say its a fact cos ugh.. i love taylor so i dont like rumors but i heard from a friend who was very close to one of taylors friends in school and that she was bi? and then this whole rumor about emily poe surfaced about how she and taylor were into each other and as a step to protect taylors image, her manager fired emily .. I read that online, but the bit about taylor in school, is very very likely

In other words, rumours about Taylor may have gone back to 2006 or 2007, before she was even a household name.

 

 

**Media Speculation**

The VH1 video was probably the first general media speculation on the nature of the relationship between Taylor and Emily Poe. However, other sources have done so since.

  * "[Taylor Swift is gay, and I have evidence for days](https://babe.net/2018/02/15/taylor-swift-is-gay-and-i-have-evidence-for-days-34274)" by Caroline Pharrell on Babe.net, 15 February 2018
  * "[CDAN Podcast Episode 25 - Taylor Swift Deep Dive](https://www.patreon.com/join/entylawyer/checkout?rid=2897637&redirect_uri=/posts/cdan-podcast-25-21942958)" by Enty (anonymous Entertainment lawyer, blogger and blind gossip site runner) on Patreon, 9 October 2018 [Note, this podcast is behind a paywall, but tumblr user empsmd-blog has done a point-by-point summary: [Part One](http://empsmd-blog.tumblr.com/post/179093211368/), [Part Two](http://empsmd-blog.tumblr.com/post/179095007438/), currently in progress.)



 

 

 

# First Public Boyfriends

Taylor has talked in interviews how she was kissed for the first time at fifteen, and over the course of high school was briefly involved with Brandon Borello, Jordan Alford, and Sam Armstrong. Borello came out well ( _Tim McGraw_ is allegedly about him), while Alford got  _Picture to Burn_ and Armstrong was called out by name in the secret message of  _Should've Said No_.

 

**Joe Jonas**

But Taylor's first famous boyfriend was Joe Jonas, whom she dated from July to October 2008. There is relatively little information about their relationship; Taylor implied on [KIIS-FM Radio](http://www.mtv.com/news/1598752/taylor-swift-talks-about-joe-jonas-breakup-online-on-the-radio-on-tv-and-in-her-new-album/) that they were unable to go out publicly together, and there are few pictures of them. More infamous, perhaps, is the fact that he broke up with her over a 27-second phone call, as she revealed on [Ellen ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6WA1Fk09vY)in November 2008. Jonas left her for Camilla Belle, whom he was allegedly spotted kissing in October 2008 and dated until June 2009.

But could it have been more Promance than romance? This was at the peak of the Jonas Brothers' popularity, and he and Taylor probably had the potential to be popular with the tween and teen audience in the way that Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron were at much the same time. In the same episode of Ellen, Taylor asserted how _very_ impossible it was that she could be pregnant.

 

**Taylor Lautner**

Taylor went on to act opposite Taylor Lautner in  _Valentine's Day_ , and the two are rumoured to have dated from October to December 2009. The stated reason for the split was that Lautner was much more into Swift than the other way around.

This one had glaring red flags of being a Promance - the Taylors were playing the romantic leads in a film, it was more rumour than any actual photographs of them together, and it is rumoured that there were concerns about Taylor Lautner not appearing heterosexual enough to play a romantic lead. The Taylors both had the same agent, and it would have been very easy to arrange a brief 'relationship', either in the hopes of drumming up publicity for the film or as a bearding situation.

 

**John Mayer**

John Mayer was on the scene from December 2009 to February 2010. Mayer is famous - or infamous - for a string of famous ex-girlfriends (including Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Aniston, and J-Lo) and a 'bad boy' lifestyle with clubbing, marijuana use, and pranking the paparazzi. He and Taylor performed together on  _Half of My Heart_ , and rumours circulated about them and about Andrea Swift's disapproval of him, but neither acknowledged the rumours at the time. In 2010, Taylor released the song  _Dear John_ , which might have been passed off as a reference to Dear John letters were it not for Mayer's [outraged reaction in Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/john-mayer-taylor-swifts-dear-john-song-humiliated-me-107169/).

Even Gaylor Swift theorists are torn on what to make of Mayer. Some consider him an attempt to having an edgier look, and perhaps a more 'adult' appeal. Others think that it may have been an attempt by Taylor to deny her queerness and find a male love interest, or that there was a genuine infatuation there. 

 

 

# Songs About Emily

These songs will be listed in the rough order that they seem to apply in the relationship, rather than necessarily the order in which they were written or released. Links will be to Spotify unless otherwise noted.

  * **[Sparks Fly](https://open.spotify.com/track/46NGAvL695VnbcSeTmQWmM) ** ( _Speak Now_ , 2010)



Taylor performed the [original version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_ddn4tJSBw) [Youtube] of  _Sparks Fly_ a number of times in summer 2007, with a polished studio version not appearing until 2010. A song about falling in love. Motifs: green eyes, stairwells, haunting

  * **[Fearless](https://open.spotify.com/track/2Rwl4ChQxZySqpetzr3Oyb) ** ( _Fearless_ , 2008)



A song about finding courage in love. Motifs: driving, rain [on pavements], reluctant dancing, small towns, taking hands

  * [**Love Story**](https://open.spotify.com/track/5MONKNdpMcrynzmq5sMkB0) ( _Fearless_ , 2008)



It is speculated - but far from clear - that  _Love Story_ was written for or about Emily. In April 2018, Taylor [gave an interview](https://eu.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2018/04/01/taylor-swift-surprises-fans-shoots-whiskey-relives-love-story-bluebird-cafe/476362002/) which firmly placed the writing of it in summer 2007, disproving the early versions of the _Love Story_ mythos in which the song was directly inspired by a young man whom Taylor's parents did not want her dating. As noted above, summer 2007 was towards the end of a period in which Taylor said she had not kissed a boy in two years. However, the other common analysis is that it was written based on the concept of forbidden love, not inspired by a real relationship, but portrayed as such in order to fit Taylor Swift's brand. Motifs: princes  & princesses, stairwells [in music video]

  * [**Breathe**](https://open.spotify.com/track/12Yefx0ffUgsi5Pv2DQgBR) ( _Fearless_ , 2008)



As noted above, this song was written in December 2007 and was likely in anticipation of Emily leaving. Motifs: breath, driving, "people change"

  * **[Haunted](https://open.spotify.com/track/2YjKcFQ1vYFhQPgsmCOjss)** ( _Speak Now_ , 2010)



This seems to exemplify the pain of the separation actually hitting. Contrast "you" and "he" where "he will try to take away my pain". Motifs: breath

  * **[Last Kiss](https://open.spotify.com/track/1VCJ7vk3Y2DoJIAEOXe3V8)** ( _Speak Now_ , 2010)



The lyrics and tone of _Last Kiss_ contrast and reference  _Fearless_. Motifs: 2am, breath, rain [on pavements], reluctant dancing

  * **[White Horse](https://open.spotify.com/track/2MMRI8uTYajusqfb8Fmcbl)** ( _Fearless_ , 2008)



This song appears to be a little later, once Emily has left and Taylor is reflecting on the outcome. Stands in stark contrast to  _Love Story_ in mood and references. Motifs: Hollywood, princes  & princesses, small towns, stairwells

  * **[If This Was a Movie](https://open.spotify.com/track/5tSmAABuoOfR59lrtXdDqm)** ( _Speak Now Deluxe Edition_ , 2010)



Continuing the theme of disenchantment which appears in  _White Horse_ , contrasting messy and unpleasant real-world endings with fictional narratives. Motifs: "people change", rain, stairwells

  * [**The Way I Loved You**](https://open.spotify.com/track/1Uz0JvwpONnTUK6eTX4uwj) ( _Fearless_ , 2008) 



It is commonly believed that the "he" of  _The Way I Loved You_ is Joe Jonas, and that Taylor is contrasting her arranged and theoretically ideal relationship with him to her previous true relationship with Emily. "[He] talks business with my father" is thought to refer to an arranged or contractual relationship, and "I'm not feeling anything at all" is a reference to the fact that Taylor does not want this relationship. Motifs: 2am, rain

  * **[Back to December](https://open.spotify.com/track/5l6GqSxplqnZbLg0LTPQeG)** ( _Speak Now_ , 2010)



A more distant look back on the relationship, and more of an apology for Taylor's own actions. December was the month in which Emily's contract ended, and her last month with Taylor; the song references a relationship which persists through summer and fall before ending in December. Motifs: driving

  * **[All Too Well](https://open.spotify.com/track/6GNRkaWUB0Lwc19SdkTgx8)** ( _Red_ , 2012)



The last of the songs associated with Emily. It was [written in late 2010](https://www.reddit.com/r/TaylorSwift/comments/1amj4w/mama_swift_explaining_the_story_behind_all_too/) [[reblog of original tumblr source](http://www.jencita.com/post/45795896954/all-too-well)], with Taylor in a highly emotional and upset state, screaming and crying as she wrote the song on the spot. It's said that there is an uncut ten minute version somewhere out there, even though the album cut of  _All Too Well_ is still one of her longer songs. Late 2010 was when Emily Poe reconnected with Eli Stumler. While Taylor is not known to have given Emily a scarf, she did give her that [flamingo bandanna](https://kaydar.tumblr.com/post/165414219352/redlipsaandrosycheeks-thiskaylorlove). The muse is usually considered to be Jake Gyllenhaal - but [Maggie Gyllenhaal has no idea what the scarf reference is about](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAtHxJvSczA&feature=youtu.be). The line "plaid shirt days and nights when you made me your own" also stands out to a lot of Gaylor Swift theorists - stereotype though it is, plenty of queer women do love their plaid, and here Taylor is clearly using the plaid to represent something more. For an extensive analysis from a queer perspective, see [that-curly-haired-lesbian](https://that-curly-haired-lesbian.tumblr.com/post/169975372663/queer-analysis-all-too-well). Motifs: driving, small towns

At least, in 2018, it is possible to end this list on a more positive note. Taylor has said in [various](https://etcanada.com/news/362301/taylor-swift-is-no-longer-sad-when-she-sings-all-too-well-thanks-fans-for-changing-how-she-feels/) [interviews](https://www.bustle.com/p/taylor-swift-said-all-too-well-now-makes-her-proud-instead-of-sad-thanks-to-fans-11452033) that  _All Too Well_ used to be a source of pain for her, but has now come to mean something more and something better when she hears fans singing along with it. She can now be proud of her songwriting work, including the ones that used to hurt her so much.


	4. America's Good Girl; Dianna Agron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, folks.

# America's Good Girl

 

In 2010, Taylor released her third album,  _Speak Now_ , which shot to number one and sold over a million items in its first week, putting Taylor into the _Guinness World Records_. As her singles continued to enter the charts in the top ten, she earned more records, and as well as continued wins for country music awards she started to be nominated for, and win, more mainstream music awards. She won her first four Grammys in 2010, as well as People's Choice Awards and World Music Awards. Her worldwide presence continued to grow, with the  _Fearless Tour_ in early 2010 mostly in the US but also featuring appearances in the UK, Canada, Japan, Australia and the Bahamas. In return, she was nominated for awards in Australia (APRA Awards, CMC Music Awards), the UK (Brit Awards), Ireland (Meteor Music Awards), Canada (Canadian Country Music Association, Juno Awards, Much Music Video Awards), the Philippines (Myx Music Awards) and for the MTV Europe Music Awards. She was also nominated for the World Music Awards, and entered the [Songwriters Hall of Fame](http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/) which even as of 2018 has only 383  _individuals_ (not groups) inducted.

In short? Taylor was going places.

She smashed through awards in 2010 and 2011, and from February 2011 to March 2012 launched into another tour. The  _Speak Now World Tour_ spanned nineteen countries and included a number of guess performances and acoustic covers of songs, enhancing the tour experience for her fans.

Within five months of the end of the  _Speak Now World Tour_ , Taylor was releasing lead the lead single from  _Red_.  _We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together_ reached number one on the Billboard charts within fifty minutes of its release. In October, she released fourth album  _Red_ , expanding into new genres and reaching new heights of success. Critics loved her, fans adored her, and with good reason. Taylor seemed like an unstoppable musical force, creating music for movies ( _Hunger Games_ ,  _One Chance_ ) and earning a Golden Globe nomination for it, performing with stars like the Rolling Stones (Chicago, 2013), and continuing to appear in films (notably  _The Lorax_ ).

Her charity work also continued to expand. She donated to US high schools including [her own former one](http://theboot.com/taylor-swift-hendersonville-high-school-auditorium/), was involved in the [Hope For Haiti Now](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_for_Haiti_Now) charity telethon in 2010, and later that same year donated to help rebuilding after floods in Tennessee. In 2011, she donated to [St Jude's Children's Hospital](https://www.agent.media/lead/taylor-swift-news/), also in Tennessee, and performed her song  _Ronan_ in the  _Stand Up to Cancer TV Special_.

Somewhere during that time, she also managed to buy several houses - but even then, her [interview with Glamour in 2010](https://www.glamour.com/story/taylor-swift-talks) noted how absurdly busy she was. For the next few years, Taylor remained based in Tennessee but travelled extensively (even when she was in the country!) until 2014, when after reportedly agonising between London and New York she chose New York.

Taylor had moved from country star to global star. She was honoured in the [ _Times 100_ for 2010](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984940_1985536,00.html) for her global influence, and was by now a household name across the world. Her image was established, her brand global.

However, eyes were starting to turn on her. In 2003, Taylor had modelled for Abercrombie & Fitch; in 2013, they released a shirt [referring to her romantic history](https://www.bustle.com/articles/741-did-abercrombie-fitch-slut-shame-taylor-swift) in a way that reduced her to nothing more than a serial dater. The same had been levelled at Taylor during the Golden Globe awards earlier that year, and in late 2012 Carrie Underwood - whom Taylor had cited as one of her musical influences - made jokes about Taylor's break-up with boyfriend Conor Kennedy and the rumours about Taylor and Patrick Schwartzenegger. By 2013, when she failed to hide her disappointment at losing to Adele for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, the press gleefully jumped on board, an experience that can only have been worsened by Tina Fey also making jokes about her dating history.

People were starting to accuse her of being fake, and it can only have stung; it is doubtful that any celebrity is truly the persona that they portray, and when the image has been created for the public it is all but hypocritical for the public to turn around and begin to tear it down. But Taylor did not publicly respond to such comments - yet, at least. She kept her head high and maintained her cool, even as the gloss of her image perhaps begin to chip

 

 

# Dianna Agron

 

Dianna Agron is an actress, dancer and singer who made her television debut in  _CSI: New York_ in 2006, and who is likely best known for her role as Quinn on  _Glee_ from 2009 to 2015. She was critically lauded for her work as Quinn from the first season, and received nominations for her work. Although she never went A-list, her acting was always considered solid, and as well as  _Glee_ there was a steady trickle of television and movie roles.

Dianna dated Alex Pettyer from summer 2010 to February 2011 (though astute minds noticed even then that they were co-stars on tween/teen movie  _I Am Number Four_ , a prime situation for promance, and that Pettyfer lashed out after they abruptly broke up post-movie), and was linked on and off to Sebastian Stan between August 2010 and December 2012.

However, as early as 2009, there were rumours about Dianna and her  _Glee_ costar Lea Michele (ship name "Achele"). They made no secret that they were roommates (until 2010, when Dianna moved out saying that she was allergic to Lea's cat), and frequently talked about each other with great intensity. Achele is neither my focus not my speciality; I will simply link to [Achele References](http://achelereferences.tumblr.com/Tagold), a tumblr dedicated to documenting their history, and note that rumours of this sort had clearly been around Dianna for a while. Enough so that she felt it necessarily to [give interviews intended to debunk them](https://hollywoodlife.com/2011/04/14/glee-dianna-agron-lea-michele-dating/). (How much that debunking worked... well, that's more debatable.) In 2012, an anonymous source on online gossip side [L Chat](https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/l_anon/) claimed that Dianna was known around the West Hollywood queer scene, and even that she had earned the nickname "pussy bandit" for her success with women.

Even before that, though, in June 2011, the infamous "Likes Girls" shirt made its appearance.

 

  
https://www.autostraddle.com/dianna-agron-loves-women-isnt-gay-93377/  
11th June 2011, Toronto, Canada

 

In 2010 and 2011, the  _Glee_  cast took part in the  _Glee Live! In Concert!_ tour across the US and Canada, then the UK and Republic of Ireland. On 11th and 12th of June, they performed in the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada. During  _Born This Way,_ as in the TV episode, the characters wore shirts with things that they disliked about themselves (for example, Kurt wears a shirt saying "Likes Boys" due to his discomfort with his sexuality, while Mike wears a shirt saying "Can't Sing" referencing his insecurity about his singing voice). Dianna, as Quinn, usually wore a shirt saying "Lucy Caboosey" in reference to past bullying Quinn had experienced about her weight and appearance.

However, on 11th June 2011, Dianna took to the stage wearing a shirt that said "Likes Girls". It's unclear where this shirt came from - none of the other actors were supposed to be wearing it.

And nobody had an immediate explanation. Articles popped up on line, twitter and tumblr speculated. The main theories were that she was suggesting Quinn was not straight (in season four, in 2012, Santana and Quinn would sleep together, but Quinn called it experimentation) - or that Dianna herself was coming out.

Dianna was not at the 12th June performance. It was said by management that she was unwell... but she was spotted out and about in Toronto by fans. A few days later, Dianna also posted to her tumblr a very long post which essentially boiled down to saying that she  _platonicly_  likes girls ("loves girls", as she put it), and was "not a lesbian", but wanted to be able to show woman-to-woman support to those around her. While the original post has been deleted, copies were reblogged and [an archived copy remains](http://diannasarchive.tumblr.com/post/48772771004/felldowntherabbithole-june-2-2000-what-does).

Some fans remained dubious. Had Dianna tried to come out, only to be closeted again by her management?

 

 

 

**Swiftgron 1.0: 2011**

As Taylor and Dianna were both at the Vanity Fairs Oscar Party in March 2011, some believe that they may have been within each other's orbits during this summer. However, both of them were still on tour, and exceptionally busy, and little is known of this period. Some Gaylor Swift fans believe that there might have been something going on, however, so it is worth noting this year.

 

**Swiftgron 2.0: 2012**

Dianna and Taylor were introduced (or possibly re-introduced) by a mutual friend in September 2011. On March 25th 2012, they attended The Hunger Games (for which Taylor had written songs) together, as shown by [fan pictures](https://66.media.tumblr.com/395e9100bab1efc9eb0c219d9d933e6e/tumblr_inline_o69tduj1PF1rhxq0r_400.jpg) with and of the two of them. and throughout March and April they seemed to spent just about every weekend together, be it at house parties or dinners. On March 30th, [Dianna got to meet Taylor's mother Andrea](http://www.justjaredjr.com/2012/03/31/taylor-swift-il-pastaio-pretty/#ixzz1qkXWLqqY). At the time, there were rumours of a love triangle between Dianna, American football player Tim Tebow, and Taylor. On April 12th, Dianna denied this on [Jimmy Kimmel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FDOn6ZaHB8), but put air quotes around "friends" when talking about herself and Taylor, added "Wouldn't that be juicy?" and blew Taylor a kiss.

On April 25th, Dianna and Taylor had a 'dress up night' with Ashley Avignone and Claire Winter, longstanding friends of Taylor's. Pictures were released showing the four girls in floating fabrics, pastel colours, and with flowers woven through their hair - the flowers in particular being worth noting, as they'll appear later on.

http://rareswifts.tumblr.com/post/147202613509  
24th April 2012, [Beverley Hills Polo Lounge](https://pagesix.com/2012/04/25/what-tim-tebow-love-triangle-taylor-swift-dianna-agron-pose-for-pics/)

 

At 2am on the morning of the 25th April, Dianna posted a tweet which said "Playing dress-up, baking cookies, posting pictures on twitter, dancing in the kitchen, kissing this cat. #DATEME"; the tweet was later deleted and reposted, with #DATEME changed to @DATEME. The cat being kissed was Taylor's cat Meredith, who seemed quite happy to receive the attention.

 

Dianna's Twitter 25th April 2012, Taylor Swift's house

 

On 29th April 2012 (a Sunday, for anyone playing along at home), Taylor [attended](http://tasteofcountry.com/taylor-swift-tiger-dianna-agron-circus-birthday/) Dianna's circus-themed twenty-sixth birthday party. She dressed up as a tiger (unsurprisingly; she does love her cats) on a leash. Tweets from other _Glee_ cast members and friends of Dianna's talked about her singing for a small group of them. It also seems to have been this same night that many of the partygoers wrote notes on Dianna's bathroom door, including Taylor; Dianna later shared the image on her tumblr. Gaylor fans spotted the red writing on the left hand side (circled) and managed to decipher what the message said.

 

http://helplessgay.tumblr.com/post/143658814152/swiftgron-masterpost  
29th April 2012, Dianna Agron's house

 

The message reads:

> I'm a little 🐱 and I need to nurse because I'm a runt and likely to fall victim to predators.

Not only did this match Taylor's cat-related costume for the night, but fans compared it to the writing from Taylor's letter to Emily and other examples of her handwriting, and confirmed that it matched in various ways. The shape of the capitals, the form of certain letters - it seemed pretty likely that Taylor left this particular note.

On 30th April, both "Swiftgron" and "We Love Swiftgron" trended on Twitter for a while - a sign of support from many fans, but also the first indication of rumours about Taylor's sexuality going mainstream.

There were intermittent paparazzi and fan images of Taylor and Dianna, often of them getting dinner together, throughout May and June. On 2nd July Dianna attended the [James Taylor show at Tanglewood](https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/07/taylor_swift_joins_james_taylo.html) where Taylor (Swift) made a guest appearance, then continued on with Taylor to spend the Fourth of July weekend in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Taylor struck up a friendship with Robert Kennedy's widow, and was linked with Patrick Schwarzenegger before being said to be dating eighteen year old Conor Kennedy. However, she also spent much of her time with her female friends, notably Dianna but also including Ashley Avignone, Claire Winter, and Roxy Olin. 

 

5th July 2012, Hyannis Port, Massachusetts

 

On 28th April 2012, Taylor started wearing, and tweeted about, a scissor necklace made by Dakotah Rae (a friend of Paramore's Hayley Williams who runs an [Etsy shop](https://www.etsy.com/shop/DakotahRaeDesigns) that even still does gold scissor necklaces). By July, Dianna was spotted wearing a [scissor bracelet](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6wr8dITiQ1qa48hso2_r1_1280.jpg) which some felt rather seemed to match. On 2nd August, while in Giffoni, Italy, Dianna also talked [in an interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib_MvEW-Ivk) about her hopes to continue acting - but added that if it didn't work out, she could "Go on the road with Taylor Swift and carry her bags."

However, after this time, things seemed to go cool between Taylor and Dianna for a number of months. Taylor moved between Nashville, Cape Cod and New York, while Dianna travelled across North America and Europe. Taylor publicly dated Conor Kennedy and spent significant time with the Kennedy family, even [buying a house in the Kennedy compound](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/08/taylor-swift-kennedys-hyannis-port).

A handful of tweets passed between them, including after the release of  _We Are Never Getting Back Together_  (on 13th August 2012) when Dianna tweeted:

> @taylorswift13 like...never, ever? Proud of you!! Amazing first day!

But given the general quiet... some wonder whether this tweet might have been a little less than honestly meant.

 

 

 

**Swiftgron 3.0**

In late September 2012, Dianna Agron and Naya Rivera [visited Paris](http://www.wetpaint.com/naya-rivera-and-dianna-agron-together-in-europe-inside-their-weekend-in-france-732524/); in the first few days of October, Taylor was also in Paris, filming the music video for  _Being Again_. On 3rd October, they had dinner together and started to be both spotted by fans (tweets of sightings followed Taylor around at the time) and seen together by paparazzi.  _Red_ was released in late October, and Taylor began to take a firmer stance about anonymity for the subjects, including an interview with [ _Time_ :](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/10/19/taylor-swift-on-going-pop-ignoring-the-gossip-and-the-best-worst-nickname-shes-ever-had/#ixzz29lV0bNx5)

> _Do you deliberately try to keep song subjects mysterious?_
> 
> I let people fill in the blanks on their own. If they want to think about their ex, that’s fine. If they want to think about maybe who one of my exes is, then that’s fine. And it might not be right, because I’m the only one who knows what these songs are really about. It’s the one shred of privacy I have in the matter.

It was also around this time that she gave an interview with VH1 about the processes of creating the songs  _Ours_ and  _Love Story_. What some people found notable, however, was a slip of the tongue that seemed to creep in:

 

0

> I don't care if you have a dic- a gap between your teeth.

It's certainly not what people were  _expecting_ to hear, and it's never actually been explained what she meant to say. More than a few people have wondered whether it was a little bit of a Freudian slip.

It was also in October 2012 that Taylor started being seen with Harry Styles, although rumours would later spread that he had pursued her for some months. They were seen frequently throughout December - including a highly-papped outing in Central Park on 2nd December, Taylor attending a One Direction afterparty on 3rd December, and a skiing party later in the month. However, by early January, it was publicly over, and some wondered how real the relationship had actually been - or whether Taylor and Harry, both high-flying superstars in their own countries, were just as interested in each others' fanbases.

However, on 4th December, Taylor received an award from the RFK Foundation for her humanitarian work before heading to the One Direction party - Dianna Agron was there, and made sure to tweet about Taylor's performance. Dianna also [gave an interview](http://www.etonline.com/news/127689_The_Kennedys_Honor_Taylor_Swift/index.html) about Taylor's success, saying "we've just been so lucky to kind of be embraced by the family" [note the first person pronoun there]. On 5th December, Dianna [went to ELLE magazine ](https://twitter.com/ShelnilaChin/status/276339314726682624)to visit Taylor, and on 6th December, she also apparently accompanied Harry and Taylor to dinner at the Crosby Hotel.

Blind Gossip sites were pretty quick to call the Harry/Taylor interactions PR, in [blind items](https://blindgossip.com/they-wont-make-it-to-valentines-day/#more-48985) ("blinds") predicting break-ups in early 2013 - predictions which turned out to be right.

 

 

On 9th January 2013, Taylor attended the People's Choice Awards in a stunning white dress which turned heads for its grown-up sexiness. But a few sharp-eyed folks spotted what appeared to be a bruise under Taylor's left breast - distinct from the shadow from her dress, there seemed to be a visible, pale brown, mark. ([Full-size image](https://s8.postimg.cc/wftgrvsyd/tumblr_mgfbk79j_PX1qfoj4do1_1280.jpg).) Taylor was, supposedly, single at this time. On 22nd January, she also appeared on Spanish TV show _[El Hormiguero](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXFnAXNt4bU)_  - the audio is a little hard to hear because of the way that the Spanish dubbing cuts over Taylor's voice, but at around 7:00 the host asks her about what type of boys she likes and Taylor's reply includes "I think, in our twenties, it's just kind of like - oh, I guess I'll try hanging out with him, or hanging out with her". 

 

 

 

In October 2012,  _Glee_ had featured Taylor's song  _Mine_  being sung by Santana to her girlfriend Brittany. It was the second and last time one of Taylor's songs, after  _Mean_ in May 2012. However, shortly before the Valentine's Day (14th February) 2013 episode of Glee, Taylor tweeted:

It was no secret that Dianna and Taylor were close friends, and it was generally assumed that Dianna was her source. However, in the episode,  _I Do_ , none of Taylor's songs featured - but Quinn, played by Dianna Agron, had sex with Santana. Santana is played by Naya Rivera; it had been rumoured at times that there had been some sort of relationship between Dianna and Naya. Taylor's tweet was very quickly deleted, and replaced with a tweet about her dancers:

It has been suggested that this was either part of Dianna and Taylor's usually tempestuous relationship - there were frequent rumours about Dianna with other women, while Taylor was starting to have the press and public turn against her - or that Dianna was once again trying to force some sort of coming out and/or making public of their relationship.

If that was her intention, then it may have worked.

On 17th April, a [fake news article](https://66.media.tumblr.com/5d0a02624a7eb81ed5cdd291d3bf3984/tumblr_inline_mqcw1vOjOq1qz4rgp.jpg) "confirming" that Taylor and Dianna were in a relationship went viral; searching for "Taylor Swift" on Twitter gave top suggestions of "Taylor Swift lesbian?" and "Taylor Swift Dianna Agron". On 23rd April, _Skins_ actress Dakota Blue Richards tweeted:

> So apparently Taylor Swift and Dianna Agron are dating. Sorry Brangelina, you just got taken over as the worlds hottest couple.
> 
> — Dakota Blue Richards (@DakotaBlueR) [23 April 2013](https://twitter.com/DakotaBlueR/status/326591573888475136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

 

The tweet was only intermittently viewable - because of how many people were trying to see it. It remains there to this day.

However, at or around this time, everything went quiet again between Dianna and Taylor. Neither of them acknowledged the rumours. Taylor had recently started her  _Red_ tour, which ran from 13th March to 12th June 2013, but during the week gap she took from 27th April to 4th May she did not seem to even acknowledge Dianna. Several Taylor fan or 'company' twitter accounts wished Dianna a happy birthday, but Taylor did not - a wild contrast with just the previous year. Dianna deleted her tumblr.

Rumours have arisen that Dianna actually  _proposed_ at around this time, either as an attempt to save a faltering relationship or as a push to make their relationship public. However, I have not been able to find firm sources for this beyond tumblr rumours, and it is another story which I, personally, would take with a pinch of salt.

 

 

 

**Swiftgron 4.0**

On 4th September 2013, Taylor and Dianna both [attended a  _Fun._ concert](https://www.self.com/story/celebrity-taylor-swift-sarah-hyland-dianna-agron-fun); this was also the second anniversary of their meeting in 2011 (the beginning of Swiftgron 2.0 as listed above; note that not all Gaylor Swift theorists support the Swiftgron 1.0 timeline). Over the course of September, Taylor played  _Sad, Beautiful, Tragic_ live, the only two occasions that she has ever done so.

In November 2013, Taylor met Karlie Kloss at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show - but that's a matter for next chapter. Taylor had been [considering buying property in the UK](https://www.eonline.com/news/482271/taylor-swift-house-hunting-for-london-home-near-ex-harry-styles), but before too long was [looking to move to New York instead](http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/nyc-taylor-swift-latest-country-article-1.1571610). It is fairly well accepted that Taylor's choice of New York definitively marked the end of any relationship hopes she may have still had for Dianna.

In December 2014, Carina MacKenzie, writer for TV show  _The Originals,[tweeted](https://jennyboom21.tumblr.com/post/121541552331/1989-is-gay-as-hell)_  to say that she believed that _1989_   would be at least partially about Dianna Agron.

 

 

 

**Life After Taylor**

Dianna continued to act, but moved into movie roles and music videos, and has even dabbled in directing. She began dating Mumford & Son's singer Winston Marshall in mid-2015; they became engaged around January 2016 and married in October 2016. She maintains an active [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/diannaagron/?hl=en) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/diannaagron?lang=en), and makes occasional public appearances. 

 

 

 

# Taylor's Public Boyfriends

 

Despite the reputation which Taylor began to acquire towards the end of this era, after John Meyer Taylor's love life was for some time more a matter of speculation and rumour than known relationships.

 

**Jake Gyllenhaal**

The two were supposedly dating, and occasionally pictured together, between October 2010 and January 2011. Even US Weekly described this as a "sudden romance", with a single series of pictures all taken on the same street and stories about a series of dates (apple-picking and the like) of which photos were never seen although they were supposed to have posed for pictures with fans. Even at the time, [Hollywood Life](https://hollywoodlife.com/2010/12/02/taylor-swift-jake-gyllenhaal-dating-fake-relationship-photos/) was describing it as fake. The song most often linked with Gyllenhaal is  _All Too Well_ , but as mentioned last chapter Maggie Gyllenhaal does not know what the scarf reference is about.

Years later, Gyllenhaal is [still unwilling to talk ](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/jake-gyllenhaal-was-asked-about-taylor-swift-and-things-got-icy-w473286)about Taylor, but [speculations on the reason(s)](https://www.nickiswift.com/61962/really-went-wrong-jake-gyllenhaal-taylor-swift/) for the break-up include the age difference between them, his unwillingness to commit, and general flakiness on Gyllenhaal's part.

 

**Conor Kennedy**

Taylor met Conor in July 2012, and was linked with him until around September or October 2012. There are a number of pictures of them spending time together (which certainly seem less staged than with some other men!) but even at the time, and Taylor certainly seems to have enjoyed her time at the Kennedy compound. She even accompanied Conor on a visit to his mother's grave, in what seemed like a supportive gesture.

Even at the time, there were questions about them - the age difference (Kennedy was still in high school, having repeated a year) and the fact that Taylor seemed enamoured with the Kennedy family generally being top of the list. There were even suggestions that she was part of a property deal for the Kennedy's! However, there certainly seems to have been at least a fondness between them, and real relationship or not they seemed to enjoy each other's company. The relationship seems to have fizzled out, with no hard feelings in either side.

 

**Harry Styles**

It has been said that Harry had been pursuing Taylor since April 2012, but it was only between October 2012 and early January 2013 that the pair were seen together. "Haylor" is still a huge ship, and for much longer some fans believed that they continued to be in a secret relationship. Most of  _1989_ is assigned as being inspired by Harry, as well as a number of songs from  _Red_. They appeared in public a handful of times, only to abruptly break up, but are still asked about each other years after the fact.

Both were highly desirable to the tween-early teen music market, and probably had a considerable overlap in fanbases. (Unfortunately, the break-up only managed to separate those fanbases more than merge them.) Their dates always seemed to have been papped, and even at the time there were many dubious looks thrown their way. Much like Joe Jonas, there may well have been intentions of making them a celebrity 'power couple', but for one reason or another they did not click and did not go ahead.

 

 

 

# Songs About Dianna

These songs will be listed in the rough order that they seem to apply in the relationship, rather than necessarily the order in which they were written or released. Links will be to Spotify unless otherwise noted. There are a number of songs which are more speculatively about Dianna, but these are ones which people are relatively certain about. Until  _reputation_ (2017), all of Taylor's songs had "secret messages"; in the lyrics published with the CDs, individual letters were capitalised to spell out [messages](http://taylorswiftlifeandmusic.wikia.com/wiki/Album_Liner_Notes/Hidden_Messages). These messages are therefore easy to decode and have been used regularly over the years; the messages start to become increasingly relevant, but potentially more opaque, with time.

  * [**Treacherous**](https://open.spotify.com/track/5VSWBJy08GzBZkddlxpXrq) ( _Red_ , 2012)



Probably the first song which is associated with Dianna. The song has the air of falling for someone that you shouldn't, of entering a potentially risky relationship - after Emily, there must have been a fear that Taylor would be risking her career by entering into another relationship with a woman. One notable lyric says, "I can't decide if it's a choice", while "I'll do anything you say, if you say it with your hands" was one of Taylor's earliest lyrics which seemed to acknowledge sex. Motifs: risk, driving, daydream

  * **[Everything Has Changed](https://open.spotify.com/track/2si9smgJqjB3aCRpzz6rYE)** ( _Red_ , 2012)



Probably written with Ed Sheeran in May 2012, judging by [this tweet from Taylor](https://66.media.tumblr.com/168b8bb4f1f3a83ff95c89411cc65421/tumblr_inline_pi5zjwBcb11u1hkk7_540.png), and recorded on 28th May. Therefore its usual association, with Conor Kennedy, cannot be considered possible. Dianna has green eyes and freckles, and was with Taylor at Hyannis Port - the secret message says " _Hyiannis_ Port", with a noticeable misspelling which people have theorised could be to reference Dianna. Motifs: green eyes, blue as sadness, "come back"

  * **[Come Back...Be Here](https://open.spotify.com/track/4gTnuOEcW40rsdVVdJTg8e)** ( _Red_ , 2012)



Likely written in May 2012, not long after _Everything Has Changed_ , and along with  _Treacherous_ , this was just at the time that Dianna had gone from New York to Europe, specifically London. Motifs: late nights, "come back"

  * **[Stay Stay Stay](https://open.spotify.com/track/6VIE8koSJVH2MtwJbOcfWV) ** ( _Red_ , 2012)



A response to the first major fight of a relationship, perhaps? Taylor has said in interview that this is about the early stages of a relationship and getting to know someone. There are certainly photos out there of Dianna [carrying groceries](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/85/d2/28/85d2280c6d11fd1ca3751496058ec7ea.png) for Taylor. Motifs: "stay", madness, daydream [secret message]

  * **[22](https://open.spotify.com/track/5ybJm6GczjQOgTqmJ0BomP)** ( _Red_ , 2012)



The secret message of  _22_ reads "Ashley Dianna Claire Selena", making this undoubtedly one of the songs dedicated to Dianna. While the song is generally treated as a friendship anthem, there are some lines which stand out, including "you don't know about me, but I bet you want to", "We won't be sleeping", and "You look like bad news, I gotta have you". The [original/draft lyrics](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/120687297929/what-is-original-lyrics-to-22) also seem more inclined to a relationship than to friendships. In the [music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgFeZr5ptV8), Taylor spends a lot of time flashing two fingers at the audience - a symbol for two, a rude gesture in the UK(!), and quite often a way of referencing vagina for lewd gestures. Although there are men who join the party in the last third of the video, it is not them that Taylor dances with - while wearing cat ears that may be a reference to Dianna's birthday party once again. Motifs: dancing, late nights, risk ["everything will be all right if"]

  * **[I Knew You Were Trouble](https://open.spotify.com/track/6RjKVXi31fui9m4dbiGRrL)** ( _Red_ , 2012)



IKYWT, as is it is often shortened to, was probably written in response to the breakup of Swiftgron 2.0, or the first major iteration of the relationship, potentially because of Dianna's struggles to remain monogamous (consider the "pussy bandit" nickname from around this time) or underlying instability to the relationship. Taylor has stated that it was about a relationship where she knew that there were red flags, but she continued anyway - consider  _Treacherous_. Although generally associated with Harry Styles, it was apparently written before they had even met, let alone dated (whoops). IKYWT is one of the songs in which Taylor most often seems to change pronouns (to "she never loved me" - see chapter two, where even AfterEllen has acknowledged an instance of this). In the music video, Taylor also sports pink hair, which some have thought might be a reference to Dianna sporting pink hair as Quinn for season three of  _Glee_. Motifs: risk, drowning, infidelity, losing oneself [music video prologue]

  * **[Babe](https://open.spotify.com/track/0SoK5u8MD2VVikNPwXBz74)** (Sugarland ft. Taylor Swift,  _Bigger_ , 2018)



Released by country band Sugarland in 2018, it was revealed that  _Babe_ was actually written during the  _Red_ era by Taylor Swift and Patrick Monahan.  _Babe_ is a song about a woman whose partner cheats on her, promising "this is the last time I'll ever call you, babe". Taylor also [put forward the idea](https://people.com/country/taylor-swift-sugarland-babe-music-video/) for the [music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l25AL0BdD6w). But what shocked many people was how much the video looked like [Sam Smith's ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCkpzqqog4k)_[Not the Only One](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCkpzqqog4k) _ (2014) - the 1960s aesthetic, certain shots, the pattern of scenes, and even the appearance of the wife. Dianna Agron played the jilted wife in  _Not the Only One_ , and no few Gaylor Swift theorists noticed the correlation. Motifs: infidelity, blue as sadness [music video]

  * **[We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together](https://open.spotify.com/track/1F6oGPF75u9RuHH4BGx9Bf)** ( _Red,_ 2012)



Dianna's August 2012 tweet of "like...never, ever?" to Taylor about the release of this single, amid a period of quietness between the two of them, has led people to wonder whether this song was about Dianna, and Dianna was aware of it. Dianna is also a [fan of indie music](http://www.wetpaint.com/would-ever-release-own-album-825641/). Certainly, Taylor's performance of the song [at the 2013 Grammys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzP58CXsInc) had elements of both Alice in Wonderland (Dianna's favourite book) and the circus (Dianna's 26th birthday party) to it.  Motifs: dancing [secret message], Alice in Wonderland [live performance], circus [live performance]

  * **[Holy Ground](https://open.spotify.com/track/3jLvoOf3s8YQWRRlFoc7DO)** ( _Red_ , 2012)



Post-breakup, looking back more with more nostalgia and/or longing, it seems that this song follows the first angry period after a breakup and starts to become more regretful. "I left a note on the door with a joke we'd made" is almost certainly a reference to the "I'm a little 🐱" which Taylor wrote on Dianna's bathroom door the night of her twenty-sixth birthday party. Motifs: dancing

  * [**Red**](https://open.spotify.com/track/12pbmOrWJNjU0TAFZEw2G7) ( _Red_ , 2012)



The titular track of the album also looked back on an ended relationship with a growing sense of longing and nostalgia. Motifs: driving, blue as sadness

  * **[All You Had to Do Was Stay](https://open.spotify.com/track/4RnDMXRqADpfMcK5SWVNu5) ** ( _1989_ , 2014)



 A firmly post-relationship song,  _AYHTDWS_  is sometimes considered to be [paired](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/146086588904/all-my-possessions-all-my-possessions-all-you) with  _How You Get The Girl_ , as Taylor has described  _AYHTDWS_ as being inspired by a dream about an ex returning to her. However, it can also be contrasted with  _Stay Stay Stay_ , and linked to songs like  _I Knew You Were Trouble_ and  _Babe_ in its references to "the love you gave away", which seems to be an indication of infidelity. Motifs: infidelity, "stay"

  * **[How You Get The Girl](https://open.spotify.com/track/5NTGvYlcSnLgVZO6BRh94M)** ( _1989_ , 2014)



Moving into the second major iteration of Swiftgron, or Swiftgron 3.0 in the extended timeline,  _How You Get The Girl_ is a song written in January 2013 after what appeared to be a complicated few months for her. The "long six months" may not be quite literal, but a reference to a period of time between two attempts to make their relationship work.  _HYGTG_ has no he/him pronouns and an ambiguity of subject created by the use of I, You and She in the same song. (For a more detailed analysis of possible timelines for HYGTG, please see [all-my-possessions](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/127872726764/loves-labours-won-how-you-get-the-girl)) Motifs: madness, kiss on cheek

  * **[This Love](https://open.spotify.com/track/1tVOfQ1Kp8xea631KCo40z)** ( _1989_ , 2014)



Taylor has stated that  _This Love_ started as a poem and later evolved into this song, and also that it was the first song written for  _1989_ ; however, it is not clear whether it is the poem, or the song, which was completed. Phrases like "wildest dreams" (which references the song  _Wildest Dreams_ ) or "sinking ships" (referencing  _I Know Places_ ) suggest that either this song fed phrases into many others on the album, or that it was adjusted at the end to make sure that it brought the themes of the album together. The symbol of love leaving and returning most likely returns to the on-and-off, complicated nature of Dianna and Taylor's relationship, but may also refer to Taylor's return to dating a woman in the years after losing Emily. Motifs: kiss on cheek

  * **[Out of the Woods](https://open.spotify.com/track/1Xmpo8vu7Rgwc4ELwtUxZK)** ( _1989_ , 2014)



_Out of the Woods_ is a song about a complicated relationship, not just difficult in an interpersonal sense but with a strong sense of societal pressure as well. [Theories](http://at-your-liberty.tumblr.com/post/100075370182/out-of-the-woods-a-prmutual-bearding-analysis) [tend to state](http://hiddensymposiarch.tumblr.com/post/100024288342/what-do-you-think-out-of-the-woods-is-about)  [that this](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/167124798259/hello-do-you-have-any-homo-explanation-for-the) is a combination of thoughts about her complicated relationship with Dianna and her PR-based 'relationship' with Harry Styles. It holds a lot of analogies about construction/arrangement of relationships, and many references to fear, as well as a contrast between the "black and white" world (of strict rules and expectations) and the "screaming colour" of Taylor and the person to whom she is singing. Motifs: risk

  * **[I Wish You Would](https://open.spotify.com/track/7xpWndqw1xwPvxQXFhY5LY)** ( _1989_ , 2014)



Moving into songs which are post-Swiftgron 4.0, and after what was most likely the final breakup.  _I Wish You Would_ is a song about thinking about a former relationship and wishing, at least, partially, that the ex would return to you. Co-writer Jack Antonoff [revealed](https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6281680/taylor-swift-out-of-the-woods-jack-antonoff) that  _I Wish You Would_ was written over Memorial Weekend (25th-27th May) 2013, and Taylor has [spoken to Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-reinvention-of-taylor-swift-116925/) about it being about an ex who bought a house close to hers. Dianna bought a house in LA, near to Taylor, in November 2012. It is also notable for the line "we're a crooked love in a straight line town", a clear expression of transgression in relationships which has moved from being teenage rebellion to being something more societal. Motifs: late nights, driving, "come back", madness

  * [**Wonderland**](https://open.spotify.com/track/13vKhp8rfCrqR6Qa1QmzoG) ( _1989_ , 2014)



Moved to the Deluxe promotional edition of  _1989_ , and not available as part of the main album,  _Wonderland_  was the first song other than _22_ which was associated directly with Dianna. Dianna  _loves_ Alice in Wonderland; her tumblr was called "felldowntherabbithole", and she has a large [tattoo](https://new2tats.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/d_agron_tat06.jpg) on her side reading "Mary has a little lamb. Here I am. What will we become? We become ourselves. **We're all mad here.** All the world is green." [Emphasis mine.] Phrases in the song such as "haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds?" and "too in love to think straight" invite a queer reading, while there is another explicit reference to fear. This is also the song which introduces the "strangers talking, and whispers turns to talking, and talking turned to screams" - a more extensive reference to the socially transgressive nature of the relationship, and outside societal pressure upon it. It has the feeling of being an end of a relationship, a retrospective, with a melancholy element. Motifs: Alice in Wonderland, green eyes, madness 

  * **[Style](https://open.spotify.com/track/3a1EEmLANv2Mc82WT3hsTL)** ( _1989_ , 2014)



Despite the name, which made many assume that this song is about Harry Styles, in October 2013 Dianna took part in a [James Dean-inspired photoshoot](https://www.instagram.com/p/BRI-l-CFzdN/) for UK magazine InStyle which would be published in February 2014 (and when posting the same image on Instagram, she titled it "Rebel Without a Clue"). This image may well have inspired the lyrics of a "James Dean daydream look" and "long hair, slicked back, tight tee shirt" which so many have linked to Harry instead. Taylor wrote the song  _Style_ on 19th February 2014, and has stated in interviews that it is about how some people never really leave your life, and never go out of style. It would be unusual, in an era in which Taylor was becoming more opaque about the inspiration about her songs, for her to explicitly name one, and indeed in later interviews she later stated that it was short for 'never go out of style'.  _Style_ is also noted for the lyrics "You've been out and about with some other girls [...] and I've been there few a two times", which is ambiguous as to whether Taylor has merely been seen "out and about" or has specifically been seen "out and about with some other girls". [It was one of the last two songs written about Dianna](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/159413333789/rebel-with-a-clue). Motifs: late night, driving, infidelity, daydream 

  * **[Clean](https://open.spotify.com/track/006cNObRKQL30lxSoNqgSo)** ( _1989_ , 2014)



_Clean_ was written on 8th February 2014, and [recorded the very next day](http://imogenheap.com/home.php?article=1321). It talks about being "ten months sober" - ten months out of a relationship, and finally reaching a point where she no longer wanted to return to the relationship. She had also said that she had [realised](https://www.elle.com/fashion/a28210/taylor-swift-elle-june-cover-2015/) she had been in the same city as an ex and had not even been thinking about them. It was generally assumed that this was about being in London, the same city as Harry Styles, but it is noteworthy at this point that Dianna was spending much of her time in London around the time that Taylor was visiting and recorded  _Clean_. However, Taylor has also said that  _Clean_ is about feeling like her reputation had been dragged through the mud and now, perhaps, [could be clean again](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/121721171164/odes-to-dianna-clean-and-wonderland-digested). (Given what would happen in the following years, and the form her new album would take, there is perhaps a bittersweet edge to this interpretation.) _Clean_ has also been paired with  _Wonderland_ on the  _1989_ set list, and as noted in chapter two talks about a hidden heartbreak which was quite at odds with the highly public nature of her relationships around this time. And perhaps most striking is the imagery used for  _Clean_ during the tour - strikingly reminiscent of the dress-up night from 25th April 2013. Motifs: drowning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For more information:
> 
> • [Autostraddle's piece](https://www.autostraddle.com/dianna-agron-loves-women-isnt-gay-93377/) on Dianna Agron's "Likes Girls" tee and follow-up  
> • [BlindGossip.Com](https://blindgossip.com/their-relationship-is-a-fabrication/) talking about Dianna Agron and Alex Pettyfer being a fake relationship - they were at least confident enough about it to post it online without fear of being sued.  
> • [Swiftgron Relationship timeline](http://all-my-possessions.tumblr.com/post/172767130249/) by all-my-possessions  
> • [Swiftgron masterpost](http://helplessgay.tumblr.com/post/143658814152/) by helplessgay  
> • [A reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/TaylorSwift/comments/87i2gw/harry_taylor_timeline_long_post/) detailing the timeline of Taylor and Harry Styles being seen together
> 
> • [rareswifts](http://rareswifts.tumblr.com/tagged/dianna%20agron) "Dianna Agron" tag


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